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HOFFMAN LIBRARY LECTURE 

No. 3 



PRESIDENT POTTER, 

THIRD HOFFMAN LECTURER. 

(Inserted by request of the Founder of the Lecture Course.) 



Iboftman 3LlbracB Xecture IHo. 3 

WASHINGTON A MODEL 

IN HIS 

LIBRARY AND LIFE 



BY y^ 

REV. ELIPHALET NOTT PLOTTER 

D.D., L.H.D., LL.D., D.C.L. 

PRESIDENT OF HOBART COLLEGE, AND LECTURER ON CIVICS, 
GENEVA, N. V. 




H-mr-ouou, 



NEW YORK 
E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 

Cooper Union. Fourth Avenue 



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Copyright, 1895, 
By E. & J. 13. YOUNG & CO. 



TO THE FOUNDER 

OK THE 

HOFFMAN LIBRARY LECTURE COURSE 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR THIS WORK 
BASED ON 

WASHINGTON'S WORDS 

" I conceiYe that a knowledge of books is the basis on which 
all other knowledge rests.". 



PREFACE 

In the valley of the Hudson, at St. 
Stephen's College, above the noble 
river closely associated with the career 
of General Washington, the Vice-Chan- 
cellor of Hobart College, Rev. Doctor 
Charles Frederick Hoffman, has erect- 
ed a library worthily designed and 
named. The Hoffman Library Lecture 
Course is on the same foundation. As 
the first lecture, his own, related to the 
Divine element in books and libraries ; 
and the second, by Doctor James Grant 
Wilson, was entitled : " The World's 
Largest Libraries ; " it has been deemed 
appropriate that the theme of the third 
should be Washington, a Model in His 
Library and Life. The first lecture 
was enlarged to form a volume ; the 
second was so extended as to be de- 



viii Preface 

livered but in part ; and here the un- 
broken precedent, as to length, is fol- 
lowed. 

On the twelfth of May, more than a 
century ago, Washington, as instructed 
by Congress, took the oath as command- 
er-in-chief of the army already under 
his command. The coincidence was 
recalled when before representatives, 
among others, of patriotic societies, on 
May 12, 1895, the following lecture was 
delivered in outline at All i\ngels' 
Church, New York. For the Rector of 
that church having founded the lecture 
course, appointed the date and place 
as above, entitling this lecture *' A 
New Leaf in History.'* It is needless 
to add that the Liturgical service, there 
chorally and splendidly rendered, was 
that in which, in the necessarily primi- 
tive rendering of his day, Washington 
was accustomed to participate in public 
worship. 

The influence of books upon the 



Preface ix 

character of Washington was there il- 
lustrated from his use of the Bible and 
Prayer Book, and his possession of the 
Christian graces, Faith and Hope ; and 
also from the fact that he worthily 
wore their crown, " a'yaTrr) ; " not being 
cold-hearted or a formalist, though of- 
ten so conceived. Under the four divi- 
sions followed here, illustrations of his 
relation to secular literature were given 
but briefly, as less appropriate to that 
time and place. Books and their in- 
fluence in moulding character are at- 
tracting an ever -increasing attention. 
The swords of Washington have been 
traced. Mr. Evarts introduced a bill 
into the National Senate for the pay- 
ment by the United States of twenty 
thousand dollars for one of Washing- 
ton's swords. But Washington's pen 
is mightier ; and his remarkable rela- 
tion to books has been strangely over- 
looked ; since his letters and literary 
achievements are evidentlv destined to 



X Preface 

become for many minds his most not- 
able distinction. 

Having incidentally stated ni}^ con- 
viction that Washington's relation to 
books was most remarkable, I was 
asked to make Washington and his re- 
lation to books my subject in this lect- 
ure, and to extend it beyond the limits 
of the lecture's delivery. Since to se- 
cure and present the evidence I have 
been confined to the few intervening 
weeks and in the busiest part of my 
college year, and since confirmatory 
matter continues to increase, I postpone 
more extended excerpts and references 
to sources of information. 

In so far as we find Washington's 
Library essentially American and close- 
ly related to the Nation's origin and 
evolution, is it not typical of Washing- 
ton? In his Library, not only do the 
titles of his books, together with his 
marginal notes and related circum- 
stances, suggest this, but his writings 



Preface xi 

as well as his words and deeds show, 
in regards in which no one has or can 
surpass him, the true American spirit. 
A colonial English youth, the evolution 
which made him a true American of 
the best type was superinduced upon 
the best of an English gentleman. But, 
nevertheless, and contrary to assertions 
lately reiterated, he was to the core 
American ; no less essentially and com- 
pletely American than the '' most 
American " of the leaders who has fol- 
lowed him. What point of importance 
is there in the whole range of our his- 
tory, what essential of public policy or 
national welfare on which his eye has 
not rested with the result of prophetic 
counsel, as valuable to - day as when 
with heart throbbing with patriotism 
he uttered it? His Americanism came, 
among other causes, from his being 
trained in this country instead of 
abroad, from his reading, and from 
his being country and not simply town 



xii Preface 

bred. It is proved by facts such as his 
devotion to the cause of abolition, of 
internal development, and of external 
neutrality ; as well as by his unswerving 
fidelity to the establishment and main- 
tenance of the Constitution and the 
Union, the importance of which he was 
prompt to perceive and enforce. The 
General Convention of our Church and 
other religious and civil organizations 
may concur, as some already have con- 
curred in the suggestion herein made, 
that there should be a centennial com- 
memoration of the death of Washing- 
ton, on or about December 14, 1899. As 
the people prepare to " ring out the old 
and ring in the new," efforts are due to 
stamp heart-deep on coming times the 
character of this ideal American. For 
Washington both adequately repre- 
sents the United States, and sets forth 
the nation's best aspirations and possi- 
bilities. The backwoodsman, the rough 
and unsymmetrical type of a pass- 



Preface xiii 

ing phase of our civilization, is not an 
all-around American, however justly 
admired and followed may be some 
such splendid leader of the people. In 
our formative and transitional age one 
destitute of the best heredity and cult- 
ure may be deservedly first in his gen- 
eration. Washington was first in his; 
but he was more ; as the consummate 
flower of the past, including the best 
elements of the future, he became pre- 
eminently tJie American. In many re- 
gards self-made, yet with good breed- 
ing from the first ; a man of the people, 
yet cultured and refined ; a toiler and 
farmer, but not ashamed of honorable 
ancestry ; honest and frank, but possess- 
ing fine manners and dignified reserve^ 
he was no infidel vulgarian, no ruthless 
plutocrat — nor is such the ideal Ameri- 
can type. He looked at practical poli- 
tics from the exalted plane of patriot- 
ism. He used wealth as not abusing it: 
his Christian profession implied the per- 



xiv Preface 

formance of a citizen's duty. Is he not, 
in his ideals and in his acts, the model 
of civic virtue needed to-day and for 
the twentieth and succeeding centu- 
ries? 

" God give us men. A time like this demands 
Great hearts, strong minds, true faith, and willing- 
hands ; 
Men whom the lust of office does not kill ; 
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; 
Men who possess opinions and a will ; 
Men who have honor ; men who will not lie ; 
For while the rabble with their thumb - worn 

creeds. 
Their large professions, and their little deeds, 
Wrangle in selfish strife — lo, Freedom weeps, 
Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps." 

E. N. P. 

HoBART College, July 4, 1895. 



CONTENTS 
Ipart 3fir6t 

PAGE 

Washington and the Light and Leading of 
HIS Library. 3 

Ipart SeconD 

Washington : Favorite Books and Presen- 
tation Copies: A Gifted Writer and 
Reader, had he Genius ? . . . .63 

Ipart ^blrD 

The Father of our Country and the Book 
OF Books ; his Manly and Christian 
Character. 107 

part jfourtb 

Washington at the Last, in his Library at 
Mount Vernon ; An Exemplar : His Re- 
lation TO Local and National Develop- 
ment 147 

Washington's Library ; the Appraiser's List ; 
Books once Washington's, now in Other 
Collections 189 



©art jf trst* 



I 



WASHINGTON AND THE 
LIGHT AND LEADING OF 
HIS LIBRARY 

The heart of the home, the intellec- 
tual life-centre of the house, such in 
the literary conception of Plato, and in 
the usage of the Father of our Country, 
was the Library. In Washington's life- 
time, this room in the cherished home- 
stead once his, now entrusted to the 
Nation's guardianship, was, we are as- 
sured, " by far the most attractive at 
Mount Vernon." Its light and leading 
were potent in his life. Its literary ma- 
terial and his use of it were so much 
more important than has been generally 
understood, and the list of books, pam- 
phlets, and related matter is so long, 
that, compared with the book-rooms of 
colonial mansions and considering its 
associations, students of the subject 
may concur in calling it " the great 



4 Washington and the Light and 

Mount Vernon Library." Will not the 
dispersion of heirlooms so closely con- 
nected with Washington more and more 
be seen to be a national misfortune? 
With devout gratitude we discern that 
many of its treasures and lessons, like 
the lessons of his life, are still within 
our reach. 

'' My Library of books and pamphlets 
of every kind," is his description in his 
will of this precious part of his property. 
The list of his books made after his de- 
cease, by his appraisers, is inaccurate on 
the face of it, if not seriously incom- 
plete. In another legal document books 
and '' cases " of them are also spoken of 
as in another room at Mount Vernon. 
But whatever the number, he diligently 
accumulated books, pamphlets, opinions, 
and information in various forms fitting 
him for his duties public and private. 
To the number of thousands of manu- 
script pages, his notes, comments, stud- 
ies, surveys, plans, codifications, as well 
as his autograph journals and letters, 
his outlines — often improved and en- 
larged in his own handwriting — as 
drafts for communications to be written 
out and despatched by his secretaries — 



Leading of His Library 5 

to whom he dictated at length, retaining 
hand or press copies — entire documents 
or ample extracts from books relating 
to matters of moment which he copied, 
that the needed information might be 
readily recalled, or more firmly fixed in 
his own mind : much of this may still be 
sejen. 

His care in reviewing and revising 
important documents is attested by 
manuscripts and printed proofs, such as 
the manuscript proof with his own cor- 
rections of the farewell address. As 
documentary evidence we have, then, 
an immense and invaluable mass of 
manuscripts which, coupled with the 
catalogue of his books and the habits of 
his life, indicate clearly the reader he 
was in his library, the writer he was in 
camp as well, and the cultured and 
complete man he consequently became. 
If not fully recognized as such in the 
nineteenth century, yet in his writings 
as well as in his deeds he still lives, and 
the work he did in his study or book- 
room, the pages he there or elsewhere 
dictated to his assistants, communicat- 
ed to correspondents, subordinates or 
friends, or penned at the head of the 



6 Washington and the Light and 

army or in his Executive office, together 
with proclamations, messages, speeches, 
and formal addresses, reveal his round- 
ed character to succeeding ages as the 
model citizen, fit also, both as a reader 
and a writer, to be the American exem- 
plar. 

The literary recognition due to 
Washington, unlike the fame awarded 
him so promptly in other regards, 
though late in coming, will, we believe, 
in proportion as his relation to his li- 
brary and literary work is made known, 
come at last, like the interesting gift 
said to have been designed (but in vain) 
to reach him in his lifetime. Discovered 
afterward, this gift was recovered only 
in 1890, and placed in the library at 
Mount Vernon. The work of Pr(^vost 
(Histoire Generale de Voyage), in 
twenty volumes, it is finely bound in 
leather and stamped in gold on the 
covers with the initials - G. ■ W. sur- 
mounted by a crown. There is written 
within, in an unknown handwriting, the 
following clue to its mysterious travels 
and late arrival : '' Was intended for 
General Washington by the Marquis 
Rochambeau, but a British cruiser saved 



Leading of His Library 



it for ME. London, A.D." Many trib- 
utes to Washington, however, reached 
him in his library at Mount Vernon, and 
among them valued acquisitions to his 
growing collection of books. But he 
would have welcomed most cordially 
anything from a Rochambeau, having 
been associated with both father and 
son. Indeed, in 1781 Washington writes 
the Count de Rochambeau, " The flat- 
tering distinction paid to the anniver- 
sary of my birth is an honor for which I 
dare not attempt to express my grati- 
tude." Said to be the first public recog- 
nition of his birthday, it was, because 
Washington's custom of keeping the 
Lord's Day was well known, postponed 
from Sunday to Monday, when Ro- 
chambeau at Newport, R. L, paraded 
the French troops, fired a salute, and 
suspended the labors of the day. At 
Providence, Count Dumas states that 
the people' ■ called Washington *' Fa- 
ther," but the title *' Father of his Coun- 
try " appears (earlier?) in the German 
Almanac printed at Lancaster, Pa. Ro- 
chambeau, like Lafayette, was devoted 
to Washington from first to last. When 
the war closed, conspicuous at the head 



8 Washington and the Light and 

of the French at Yorktown was Count 
Rochambeau. Washington's letters dur- 
ing this period, as throughout his pub- 
lic career, illustrate the manner in 
which before the day of great jour- 
nals he reached other influential men 
and groups, and by guiding leading 
minds moulded opinion. This is fur- 
ther shown in other instances. But the 
influence of his letters reflecting the 
light of books, was not confined to peo- 
ple of his own walk in life ; he wrote 
not for his correspondents alone, but to 
enlighten and lead the most illiterate as 
well as the most learned patriots of the 
land. 

The fact that Washington added the 
library wing to his mansion is empha- 
sized here because what one adds to 
one's house indicates tastes, interests, 
pursuits. Further, that he felt the his- 
torical importance of the literary ma- 
terials he was to leave behind him, is 
evident from his plans for an addition- 
al building for their safe-keeping, and 
from his utterances, especially in his 
will and last words. But that his heirs 
hardly felt as he did, is inferred from the 
sales or gifts of books or papers, which 



Leading of His Library 



soon deprived Mount Vernon of almost 
all of them. 

Later on it is proposed to give 
further and fuller information to date 
concerning the books of his library, 
their subjects, the number of pamphlets, 
maps, manuscripts and journals, and col- 
lections of Washingtoniana, including 
my own, which was catalogued in part 
in 1889, at the New York '' Centennial 
Celebration of the Inauguration of 
Washington as President." He was, 
it seems, the first in this country to use 
a lead-pencil, and to employ in connec- 
tion with his correspondence a letter- 
press. Among those of his letter-press 
copies lately purchased by the Lenox 
Library, I find reference to the forged 
letters which he denounced. Collectors 
may well be reminded that, as Wash- 
ington had in his day to expose as false 
letters attributed to him, so now forg- 
ery is apparent as well as the marvel- 
lous tendency of desired relics to in- 
crease and multiply. Happy discover- 
ies and recoveries have prevented the 
utter loss or alienation from this country 
of the contents of his library and other 
Washingtoniana. Much has been se- 



lo Washington and the Light and 

cured by the purchases provided for by 
the Congress of the United States and 
by collections from gifts or otherwise, 
existing in several of the States ; and 
also by individual collectors, and public 
institutions such as libraries, bringing 
the priceless treasures into safe custody, 
and within reach of the student's re- 
search and the patriot's reverent obsei*- 
vation. 

Far more than a thousand titles from 
the library once owned by Washing- 
ton are counted in one collection from 
it. Herewith it is proposed to pub- 
lish for the first time, separately and 
with important related information, the 
complete list of the books of Washing- 
ton, indicating the titles in the large col- 
lection so happily rescued by Daniel 
Webster, Tared Sparks, and others from 
transportation abroad, and preserved in 
the Boston Athengeum. On that an- 
cient site whence might have been wit- 
nessed, among other scenes associated 
with Washington, that evacuation of 
the city which he caused from Dor- 
chester Heights, it is fitting that 
there should be books of his related to 
his career as General and Statesman. 



Leading of His Library 1 1 

When it came into his possession, the 
purchaser of this part of Washington's 
library claimed that what he bought 
amounted to thousands not only of 
titles but of volumes. In his statement 
he writes, '' I bought Washington's 
Library of three thousand volumes for 
three thousand dollars, to secure eight 
hundred autographs for Mr. Lenox ; 
and tracts and miscellaneous books for 
the British Museum." This "was a 
bargain " as prices rule now, and espe- 
cially when compared with prices in the 
appraiser's list also, and the sum paid by 
the Lenox Library for those press cop- 
ies of Washington's letters to which I 
have just referred ; many passages in 
which 1 found illegible. 

Here it may be noted that Mr. H. 
Stevens's statements have been contro- 
verted. As he incorrectly called the 
collection he purchased " Washington's 
Library," it has been so called since, 
A competent and accomplished au- 
thority, one of its custodians, writes : 
*' The collection only embraces a part of 
Washington's library, and on the whole 
I should judge it not the most impor- 
tant part. It contains, I believe, three 



12 Washington and tJie LigJit and 

hundred and eighty-four volumes." In 
round numbers, Washington's library 
at Mount Vernon in his day may be es- 
timated at a thousand volumes. The 
ofihcial appraisal would have shown a 
larger number, had important pam- 
phlets been bound and had books 
loaned or lost been restored ; for the list 
of eight hundred and sixty-three books 
appraised, excluding pamphlets and 
magazines, states that some works were 
found incomplete because of missing 
volumes. The list of the library of the 
neighboring mansion of Belvoir in- 
cludes a book of Washington's. There, 
if anywhere, one would expect a con- 
siderable collection of books ; they 
numbered, in his day and at the time of 
the sale then, but a few dozen, to be 
named before we conclude. Compared 
even with Greenway Court, and other 
Southern mansions, Washington's li- 
brary was a remarkable collection then 
and for that neighborhood. All things 
considered, it may well be called a 
*' great " library, even for such a man- 
sion as Washington inherited and en- 
larged. 

The library wing or south extension 



Leading of His Library 13 

of Mount Vernon, added by Washing- 
ton in 1774, was also planned by him. 
The design of the wainscoting is not 
such as to attract attention, for open- 
ings were concealed there (seventeen 
have already been found by those in- 
specting it) leading to small apartments 
or compartments, some, one within the 
other, where valuables such as pri- 
vate papers and official records, and the 
iron safe containing the gold medal 
awarded by Congress, could be placed. 
These precautions were the more nec- 
essary because of the enforced absences 
of one who loved his home, but never 
failed to leave it at his country's call. 
Prized as was his library both as 
1 his study and as preserving memen- 
* toes ; precious as was Mount Vernon 
{ and its associations to his loving heart ; 
I that the cause of his country was far 
more dear, was seen in many a critical 
I and cruel test. For instance, during his 
absence in the Revolutionary War his 
overseer found adversaries threaten- 
ing to despoil and destroy Mount Ver- 
non. To save it he gave aid and com- 
fort to the enemy. His own estate was 
not far off, and this may have influ- 



14 Washing toji and the Light and 

enced his course. Even before Lafay- 
ette wrote Washington of the report, he 
had heard of it and reproved his agent. 
However well meant, Washington stern- 
ly rebuked him for going on board the 
enemy's vessel with refreshments, and, 
he indignantly adds, ^' to commune with 
a parcel of scoundrels." His agent, 
though not a near relative, bore the 
name of Washington. In this unpatri- 
otic course a subordinate might be re- 
garded as Washington's representative. 
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ameri- 
can armies felt all this keenly, and also 
that the example was most dangerous. 
His consequent letter may still be seen 
and its conclusion in the patriotic 
words : " It would have been less pain- 
ful to me . . . had they burnt my 
house and laid my plantation in ruins." 
For us and for coming times, the 
lesson of Washington and his library is 
the USE he made of it ; the aid, educa- 
tion, and Christian culture he derived 
from it. His was not a library distin- 
guished principally for its furnishings, 
for brilliant titles representing authors 
conspicuous by their absence, or for 
wooden blocks colored and lettered to 



Leading of His Library 15 

imitate volumes ; in fine it was not a 
library of show-cases rather than book- 
cases. Shelves of books, however rare 
or sumptuously bound, seldom used and 
never loaned, do not make a working 
library. Washington's use of his shows 
him as he was to coming times. He 
shared what he had with others. For 
himself his library became his literary 
workshop. There he wrote and dic- 
tated to his secretaries. His books 
formed his intellectual armory. Even 
the early discourtesy of Lord Howe, he 
was able to check with firmness and re- 
buke with dignity, because of his better 
knowledge of military usage and the 
lawful amenities of warfare. Later on, 
from his reading, study, and even writ- 
ing out of constitutions of republics and 
other civic records, and from like knowl- 
edge of the charters of the Colonies and 
of the resources of the several States, 
he was enabled in the supreme hour 
when the articles of confederation failed, 
to lay the foundations for the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

For Leibnitz's library, a small shelf 
sufficed, and so with many another in- 
tellectual light. As it was the USE 



1 6 Washington and the Light and 

which Washington made of his library 
which rendered it increasingly dear to 
him, so in boyhood it was the use he 
made of books which is noticeable ; 
whether books for journals, or books 
of lessons, forms for business, maxims 
for manners, or models of literary style ; 
it was this right use of books which led 
him on from crude attempts to a justly 
distinguished style. Do not his rec- 
ords, invoices, and accounts, exact and 
clear, show this? His voluminous cor- 
respondence too, ever growing, includes 
many of the greatest questions of the 
ages, and appreciated by the most im- 
portant personages of that day, its 
value has continued undiminished to 
this hour. The wealth of this informa- 
tion thus indicated confirms our theory 
as to the Mount Vernon Library and 
his use of it. Thus, his pen became 
mightier than his sword. His literary 
activity and at the same time his accu- 
racy, are the more amazing as emanat- 
ing from the ever-busy head and hand 
of the enlightened cultivator of Mount 
Vernon, the helpful neighbor, the hos- 
pitable host, the incorruptible legislator, 
the commander-in-chief, the guide of a 



Leading of His Library 17 

just democracy, the founder of our re- 
publican institutions, a master-builder 
of our Constitution, the famed peace- 
maker, our first President, for two ar- 
duous and eventual terms, the conscien- 
tious and successful Executive of the 
United States. 

The old saying which bids us fear the 
man of few books, is not inspired by 
contempt for large collections of books, 
but by a just appreciation of the power 
which concentration in the use of books 
gives to their possessor. Is not this the 
point of the classic suggestion, that the 
mind is formed not by the quantity but 
by the quality of its reading? To mas- 
ter one book, if it be great and good, 
is better than to skim all books. Read- 
ing for a purpose, too, makes the reten- 
tive reader. It tends to gain for him, 
not only practical ends, but by these 
very means intellectual and literary 
growth. This is seen in the purpose- 
ful career of Washington ; as boy 
or youth or man he used books, not 
as a slave, but as a master. Meeting 
every emergency effectively, his liter- 
ary style became such that those famil- 
iar with his papers have ranked him 



1 8 Washington and the Light and 

high among the felicitous writers of the 
ages. 

In reviewing the hst of hundreds of 
works once comprised in his library, a 
glance groups them in subjects ; indeed 
they seem to have been arranged there 
to some extent on that principle. The 
preponderance is noticeable of works 
relating to matters historical, political, 
military, educational, agricultural, nau- 
tical. In economics there is Smith's 
"■ Vv^ealth of Nations," and in history 
the classic work of Gibbon ; but de- 
tail of this character we shall consid- 
er further on. As you would expect, 
many volumes of his library relate 
to his life at Mount Vernon, includ- 
ing road-making, building, horticulture, 
farming, cattle, shrubs, and flowers, for- 
estry, and farm implements of which he 
was an inventor. He provided for the 
recreation, housing, and help of those 
who worked for him, as well as for ac- 
cidents and for old age ; but he required 
due return of service. Not onl)^ had he 
literature relating to horses and horse- 
manship, but to the care of human be- 
ings also. He was an athlete and a 
sportsman for health and recreation ; 



Leading of His Library 19 

but he knew how to work with his own 
hands ; and in camp, to share the pri- 
vations of his soldiers. His ready sym- 
pathy in view of their sufferings caused 
tears to fiow which he could not re- 
strain, but he sought to supplement 
from his own reading the ignorance of 
raw recruits, and from his own supplies 
the deficiencies of the commissariat. 
Through tremendous trials and marches 
and hardships, his men followed him, 
in want themselves, but knowing his 
noble determination to receive no pay 
for his services and to make every sacri- 
fice necessary for the cause. His men, 
and then the nation, and ultimately the 
world, read his simple, straightforward 
nature as an open book, and understand- 
ing him, had faith in him. But it was 
left for coming ages to discover to how 
great an extent for what he was and 
what he achieved, we are indebted to 
books and his faithful use of them. 

The comparative absence of light lit- 
erature from his library shows us his 
serious tastes and tasks ; yet there are 
volumes which remind us how well he 
knew, not only that '' sweet are the uses 
of adversity," but that helpful are the 



20 Washington aiid the Light and 

uses of amusement. His introduction 
to polite literature, it seems, was at 
Green way Court, the seat of Lord Fair- 
fax, his connection by marriage and his 
patron, who employed him to survey 
his vast estates. Lord Fairfax had been 
a student of Oxford Universit}^ and had 
written for Addison's " Spectator." 
We find, as was to be expected, that 
volumes of the '' Spectator " and of 
'' History and Literature " were in the 
library at Mount Vernon. Other con- 
nections, and his devoted brother Law- 
rence, with whom he lived for years and 
from whom he inherited Mount Ver- 
non, had been liberally educated abroad. 
Works of the imagination were included 
in Washington's library, Shakespeare 
and some others of the first rank. 

His habit was to inform himself by 
reading and reflection before writing 
or acting : his absences from his Mount 
Vernon library increased with his pub- 
lic duties : when there the claims of 
hospitality and other interruptions pre- 
vented his full use and enjoyment of 
his books and study ; but from camp he 
sent for books to booksellers, and at 
home, his scheme of daily duty also in- 



Leading of His Library 21 

eluded a definite time for seclusion with 
his pen and books, and a definite ar- 
rangement for reading. On some occa- 
sions he read to others, or listened while 
others read ; as in his vigorous boyhood, 
his wise and devoted mother read to him. 
Described when a bride as blonde and 
beautiful, her admirable influence upon 
the boy when fatherless is proverjpial. 
Of late there are those who hold that, 
comparatively, the mother of Washing- 
ton was uneducated and that members 
of her family, to say the least, were illit- 
erate. 1 do not concur in this opinion ; 
and I write these lines in the old Ball 
mansion, south of Saratoga and Ballston 
Spa, and nearer Ballston Centre, where 
was the congregation of the Reverend 
Eliphalet Ball, the pastor who, a rela- 
tive of Mary Ball, Washington's mother, 
welcomed Washington's visit to that 
neighborhood. Reverend Eliphalet 
Ball's important place in the communi- 
ty and in the esteem of his parishioners, 
is indicated by the lines traced upon 
his tomb in the neighboring God's Acre 
" Sic transit gloria mundi." Possibly 
the determined spirit of Washington's 
mother and that of her son may be 



22 Washington and the Light and 

traced to the family whence sprang 
John Ball in the fourteenth century: 
that follower of Wycliffe, who engrafted 
on his master's doctrine, it is said, " some 
political theories resembling the ' liberty, 
equality, fraternity ' of later ages ; " so 
that priest John Ball was consequently 
hanged A.D. 1381. The Reverend Eli- 
phalet Ball, of Ballston, though a Prot- 
estant, called also " priest Ball " to this 
day, had a gentler life and fate. Distin- 
guished guests were entertained by the 
family, and as their descendants find, 
Washington himself when in that part 
of New York State. Colonel Young 
bought the Ball mansion and its beau- 
tiful furniture. 

I left the library room there but a 
little while ago. The place was called 
Rose Garden and noted for its fruits 
and flowers, and for the open house 
there kept ; the gifted descendant of 
Colonel Young, by whom I am often en- 
tertained, has not only the Chippendale 
furniture once the Ball's, but has many 
traditions from her grandfather, Colonel 
Young, showing anything but '' illiter- 
acy " in the Ballston branch of the Ball 
family. Judging from Virginia man- 



Leading of His Library 23 

sions and families of Southern friends, 
and from what I have learned of Wash- 
ington's mother, before I concur in ap- 
plying to her or hers such a term as 
illiterate, I require much more than ill- 
spelt letters, of a date when the spelling 
of English, if not more unphilosophical 
than now, was certainly more chaotic. 
Without entering further on this de- 
bated ground, and holding the noble in- 
fluence of his mother upon his charac- 
ter and life to be beyond dispute, what 
seems long and strangely overlooked is 
the pre-eminent educational and literary 
influence on Washington of Augustine 
Washington, his father. 

The study of Washington's relation to 
books and the growth of his literary ac- 
complishments, the classical allusions in 
his writings, as well as the clear, direct 
style of the competent man of business, 
call us to recognize his honored father 
as the founder of his culture. We must 
carefully consider, therefore, Washing- 
ton's heredity on his father's side. 
Avoiding again debated points, and in- 
debted somewhat to sources not gener- 
ally accessible, we postpone the extend- 
ed discussion of his arms or book-plate. 



24 Washmgton and the Light and 

But in connection with his heredity, it 
is here noticeable that history and tra- 
dition, as well as the arms and letters 
and records, etc., point to certain pre- 
vailing- and truly noble characteristics 
from the thirteenth centur}^ and earlier 
onward. The arms indicate not only 
purity and self-command, but as we are 
assured, the agricultural pursuits of a 
gentleman : knighthood, courage, truth. 
In 1646, when General Fairfax, besieging 
Worcester, England, called on its gov- 
ernor. Colonel Henry Washington, to 
surrender, the reply had a ring of direct 
courage about it, as though uttered by 
George Washington himself : ** To Gen- 
eral Fairfax. Sir: It . . . may be 
easy to procure his Majesty's commands 
for the disposal of this garrison. Till 
then I shall make good the trust reposed 
in me. As for the conditions, if I shall 
be necessitated, I shall make the best I 
can. The worst I know, and fear not." 
Not only from the navy, but by rep- 
resentatives such as university schol- 
ars and teachers, well-placed clergymen 
and university preachers, modifications 
are introduced, and the arms indicate 
further divinity and learning, as well as 



Leading of His Library 25 

naval service. The connection of his 
ancestors with more than one nation — 
important to one needing to be in touch 
with others besides those of English 
descent — is suggested not simply by the 
name de Wessington and by branches 
on the continent of Europe as well as in 
England and America, but by such facts 
as that, to a correspondent claiming con- 
nection through the German branch, 
one who wished to take service under 
him, Washington, under date of July 
20, 1779, wrote: "There can be little 
doubt, sir, of our descending from the 
same stock." Further, he wrote when 
President, in reply to an inquiry from the 
Garter King-at-arms, Sir Isaac Heard : 
" This is a subject to which, I confess, I 
have paid very little attention ; my time 
has been so much occupied in the busy 
activities of life from an early period of 
it, that but a small portion of it could 
have been devoted to researches of this 
nature, even if my inclinations or partic- 
ular circumstances should have prompt- 
ed to inquiry." 

The comparatively early death of 
Washington's father, and the customary 
tendency to attribute the greatness of 



26 Washington and the Light and 



great sons to the mother, has too long 
thrown into shadow the tender, helpful, 
and beautiful friendship between the 
large-hearted boy and his cultured, trav- 
elled, and devoted father. Happy in its 
influence upon Washington's character 
and consequently for mankind was this 
friendship, prophetic of many following. 
Is there not a worthy field for instructive 
research in the friendships of Washing- 
ton ? By request, I am preparing the 
subject for publication. How attractive 
was the young lad to the ablest men he 
met ? Do not yourhearts burn within 
you, who know the high purpose and 
possibilities of youth, as you read that 
Jesus, looking on the young man in the 
Gospel, loved him ? Certainly Wash- 
ington, a well-formed, high-principled 
lad, loved and was loved in return, and 
most warmly by his father. That father 
was then described as a *' noble-looking 
man of distinguished bearing, tall, ath- 
letic, fair, fiorid, with brown hair and 
fine gray eyes." 

A writer in 1836 adds: *' Between 
George Washington and his father it 
would seem that a delightful intercourse 
always subsisted, it being a matter of 



Leading of His Library 27 

regret to the latter that he was obliged 
to be separated from his child, even 
during the hours of school." He noted 
thankfully '' the budding virtues of his 
son," who was with him in his last hours 
in April, 1743, and received the "part- 
ing benediction of his beloved parent." 
His father having been so attentive to 
the education of his children, and espe- 
cially to that of George, thereafter the 
boy's seriousness and piety deepened 
under the weight of this early bereave- 
ment. He was obliged to give up school 
to earn an honest living and relieve his 
widowed mother, who, able and untir- 
ing, was entrusted with an estate yielding 
comparatively little, however nominal- 
ly extensive. But the root of literary 
growth sprung from heredity had been 
so fostered by his " scholarly " father 
that its development went right onward, 
assured by his own fidelity. The story 
is well authenticated of his sticking to 
his tasks when others were at play, fond 
as he was of athletic games with one sex 
or an occasional romp with the other. 
As a half-orphan he was sent for a 
time to his half-brother's residence — 
Wakefield — a ''fine establishment" for 



28 Washington and the Light and 

that day. There, as at Mount Vernon, 
and with the Fairfaxes at Belvoir, and 
when at the stone residence erected by 
Lord Fairfax at Greenway Court over- 
looking his vast estate, young Washing- 
ton associated with people of culture ; 
some of whom, like so many of the Wash- 
ingtons, had been educated at schools 
and colleges in the mother-country. The 
foreign connection was kept up by corre- 
spondence, some letters being as quaint- 
ly characteristic as the following from a 
fellow-soldier, who writes under date of 
November 13, 1749, to Captain Law- 
rence Washington: *' I am just become 
eldest captain ; . . . perhaps my danc- 
ing days ought to be over, . . . but 
not yet married ; I threaten the Scotch 

lasses very hard ; Bob is likely 

dead ; did I know where she was I 
would have a stroke at my old flame, 
his widow, if she durst venter again 
after having had so bad a husband ; but 
they all do venter, and a man might 
venter too, were he sure of having as 
good luck as you had. . . . Pay my 
compliments to Fitzhue who I hear has 
beat up the quarters of a widow — to 
whom I wish all happiness." 



Leading of His Library 29 

It was not till some ten years later 
that Washington, after the early, ardent 
years of his youth and race, '' beat up 
the quarters " in a way possibly similar, 
and certainly resulting in his happy mar- 
riage January 6, 1759, to Mrs. Martha 
Custis, who added her fortune and influ- 
ence to the hospitalities of his cultured 
home and the progress of his public 
career, and usually helped him keep his 
reading hours sacred. 

As a surveyor in a wild and dangerous 
country, as a visitor in the best society 
of Boston and New York, as an officer 
in the troubles which continued through 
the seven years' war, Washington had 
not only grown in experience and cult- 
ure, but had earned the right to the 
home-life which on his marriage he re- 
sumed at Mount Vernon. The hand of 
Providence will be seen by the devout 
in that, neither by enlistment in the Brit- 
ish navy, nor as a regular in that army, 
was he separated from the career of a 
patriotic colonist. His letters during 
these years of preparation show not only 
the growth of a great writer, but of a 
great heart ; with a tender pity for the 
suffering and oppressed, and a strong 



30 Washington and the Light and 

sense of justice and of the rights of the 
people. His reading and experience pre- 
pared him, together with his influence as 
a member of the House of Burgesses, to 
lead in the coming cause of his country. 

A devoted husband, he proved a good 
son. He has been blamed of late by those 
who, misinformed, declare not that he 
dissuaded her, but that he declined to 
have his mother live at Mount Vernon. 
Not so. We shall find that he advised 
either her living with one of her sons 
and adding to her income the rent of 
her house, where she was alone, or the 
suitable repair of her residence and her 
living there, where her firm domestic 
reign was undisputed. They had both 
the same habit of command, and she was 
accustomed to his implicit obedience. 
His accounts and letters show his de- 
voted filial care for her, and in her ad- 
vanced age he could but confess that 
the quiet of his house was disturbed by :' 
" crowds coming and going." 

The classic and other books in such 
a library as his, do not encourage 
Utopian attempts to accomplish the 
impossible. Socrates could not study 
without interruption. Washington's lit- 



. i 



Leading of His Library 31 

erary work was hampered by many 
obstacles and conflicting- duties. His 
wife, weighted with the hospitality of 
his establishment, was to be considered. 
Two wills, each working well in its own 
way, often work jarringly when con- 
fined to one and the same sphere. 
How hardly shall those that have sep- 
arate homes enter an earthly para- 
dise by joining establishments. The 
Bible suggesting this difficulty asks, 
*' Can two walk together unless they be 
agreed ? " 

Washington, who had the happiness 
of all at heart, understanding whom he 
was dealing with, knew, as usual, '' what 
he was about." A man too weak to 
say no, or as in Washington's case, 
■while offering welcome, failing to frank- 
ly state the difficulties, will spoil two 
homes by complicity in an untimely at- 
tempt to unite them in one. However 
*' wide " the house, the result may be 
a '' brawling " failure. So frequented 
was Mount Vernon that a slight family 
jar there would make a public scandal. 
Remaining in her own house, was his 
mother's decided choice ; and Wash- 
ington looked to her comfort, and she 



32 Washington and the Light and 

said again and again, " George has al- 
ways been a good son." 

Incidents like this, and some which 
follow, are only germain, because back 
of them we see Washington's library 
and the use he made of it by conscien- 
tiously avoiding undue interruptions. 
The increasing demands upon his time 
required regular hours among his 
books and papers. A venerable and 
venerated bishop, whose marvellous 
memory retains many interesting events 
in American history, recalls a visit to 
Mount Vernon, where a lady of the fam- 
ily gave him the following illustration 
of Washington's determination to have 
some time each day undisturbed in his 
library. An equestrian from the capi- 
tal, in hot haste to return and '' catch 
the stage " for Philadelphia, dismount- 
ed for a passing glimpse of the great 
Washington. He was in vain assured 
that Washington in his library, or 
study, as in the family it was sometimes 
called, was denied to all when engaged 
there with his devotional or other 
books. Insistance finally prevailed and 
under pressure the honored wife 
yielded, and they were breaking in 



Leading of His Library 33 

upon his study, and the door was be- 
ing opened, when suddenly the grand 
face appeared, the deep eyes and voice ; 
and the exclamation, '' How dare you ! " 
showed that if Washington was ** not at 
home" to callers, the General was de- 
cidedly in evidence, with no intention 
that his orders should be disobeyed. 

In his correspondence Washington 
laments, with a delicate trace of humor 
characteristic of him, that other things 
than rightful claims often keep him from 
his books, for he could not be inhospit- 
able, and crowds and correspondence 
increased. When, in 1797, in the midst 
of repairs and improvements, he writes 
to the Secretary of War of his resump- 
tion of his life at Mount Vernon, he 
adds, " It may strike you that in this de- 
tail no mention is made of any portion 
of time allotted to reading. The remark 
would be just, for I have not looked into 
a book since I came home, nor shall I 
be able to do it until I shall have dis- 
charged my workmen ; probably not be- 
fore the nights grow long, when possibly 
I may be looking into Doomsday book." 

Does not this reference to his read- 
ing habits suggest a modesty also char- 



34 Washington and the LigJU and 

acteristic of his public achievements? 
Frederick the Great and others ranked 
high such plans, and campaigns, and 
sacrifices as his under such difficulties, 
and the thoughtful saw in them the 
right use of books as well as of brains. 
Familiar with the best European mili- 
tary schools and literature, De Kalb, 
who served so nobly, died so bravely, 
and the corner-stone of whose monu- 
ment was laid by Lafayette, lamented 
" that an excessive modesty led Wash- 
ington too frequently to act upon the 
opinion of inferior men, rather than 
upon his own most excellent judgment. 
In the army and Congress more than 
one rival was opposed to him. He had 
his full share of disaster, the operations 
which he conducted, if compared with 
great European wars, were on a very 
small scale. ... It may, however, 
be truly said of him that his military 
reputation steadily rose through many 
successive campaigns, and before the 
end of the struggle he had outlived all 
rivalry, and almost all envy. He had a 
thorough knoivledge of the technical part 
of his profession, a good eye for military 
Combinations, an extraordinary gift of 



Leading of His Library 35 

military administration. Punctual, me- 
thodical, and exact in the highest de- 
gree, he excelled in managing those mi- 
nute details which are so essential to the 
efficiency of an army, and he possessed 
to an eminent degree not only the com- 
mon courage of a soldier, but also that 
much rarer form of courage Avhich can 
endure long-continued suspense, bear 
the weight of great responsibility, and 
encounter the risks of misrepresenta- 
tion and unpopularity. In civil as in 
military life, he was pre-eminent among 
his contemporaries for the clearness 
and soundness of his judgment, for 
his perfect moderation and self-con- 
trol, for the quiet dignity and the 
indomitable firmness with which he 
pursued every path which he had delib- 
erately chosen. Of all the great men in 
history he was the most invariably ju- 
dicious, and there is scarcely a rash 
word, or action, or judgment recorded 
of him. Those who knew him well no- 
ticed that he had keen sensibilities and 
strong passions ; but his power of self- 
command never failed him, and no act 
of his public life can be traced to ca- 
price, ambition, or resentment. In the 



36 WasJiington and the Light and 



despondency of long-continued failure, 
in the elevation of sudden success, at 
times when his soldiers were deserting 
by hundreds, and when malignant plots 
were formed against his reputation ; 
amid the constant quarrels, rivalries, and 
jealousies of his subordinates ; in the 
dark hour of national ingratitude, and 
in the midst of the most universal and 
intoxicating flattery, he was always the 
same calm, wise, just, and single-minded 
man, pursuing the course which he be- 
lieved to be right without fear or fanati- 
cism ; equally free from the passions 
that spring from interest, and from the 
passions that spring from imagination. 
He never acted on the impulse of an 
absorbing or uncalculating enthusiasm, 
and he valued very highly fortune, po- 
sition, and reputation ; but at the com- 
mand of duty he was ready to risk and 
sacrifice them all. He was in the high- 
est sense of the word a gentleman and 
a man of honor, and he carried into pub- 
lic life the severest standards of private 
morals." 

Marvellously exact, methodical, busi- 
ness-like, to modesty that rendered him 
speechless in his youth when called to 



Leading of His Library 37 

reply in public to formal praise, he 
joined the impressive dignity of con- 
scious rectitude. Authors who aim to 
take him from his pedestal and claim 
that he was '* but a man after all," may 
do no harm in a day when worship of 
demi-gods is out of date, and when 
something human is needed for a hu- 
man exemplar. But why should not 
justice at least, and at last, be done him, 
by a book-making and a book-loving 
age, in the matter of his memorable Li- 
brary and his remarkable use of it? 
The Library at Belvoir must, one would 
judge as already intimated, have equalled 
that of any Southern Colonial mansion 
in Washington's day, and he was often 
entertained there as a near neighbor 
and dear friend. The list handed down 
names the books in the Belvoir library, 
and we group them as follows. Later 
you can compare the showing with 
Washington's comparatively great li- 
brary. 

*' Coke's Institutes of the Laws of Eng- 
land " (3 vols.) ; Gunnall, " Offences in 
the Realm of England ; " '' Lex Merca- 
toria, or Law of Merchants ; " Haw- 
kins, " Pleas of the Crown ; " Chamber- 



38 Washington and the Light and 



Iain's " State of Great Britain ; " '* Ho- 
bart's Reports ; " " Croope's Reports ; " 
*' Johnson's Excellency of Monarchical 
Government ; " *' England's Recovery ; " 
'' Political Discourses, by Henry, Earl 
of Monmouth ; " " Obreneter, a Political 
Piece ; " '' Laws of His Majesty's Plan- 
tations ; " '' Laws of Virginia ; " " Laws 
of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay ; " 
Jacob's ''Law Dictionary;" Ainsworth's 
*' Latin and English Dictionary ; " 
Haine's '' Dictionary of Arts and Sci- 
ences ; " Latin and French Dictionary ;" 
'' Spanish and English Dictionary ; " 
*' Compleat Clerk and Conveyancer;" 
Parkinson's '' Herball ; " '' The Way to 
Get Wealth ; " Hughes' *' Natural His- 
tory of Barbadoes ; " Langley's '' Po- 
mona or Gardening ; " " A New Body 
of Geography ; " Heylin's '' Cosmo- 
graphie," in four books ; " London Mag- 
azine," seven volumes ; " History of the 
Low Country Wars ; " '' Collections of 
Voyages and Travels ; " '' Batavia Illus- 
trated ; " Blackmore's '' Prince Arthur ; " 
Locke on '' The Human Understand- 
ing;" '* History of the Twelve Caesars," 
by Suetonius ; Knoll's " History of the 
Turkish Empire ; " " The State of Chris- 



Leading of His Library 39 



tendom ; " Calvin's "■ Institute of Relig- 
ion ; " Fuller's '' Church History from 
its Rise ; " ''A Poem on Death, Judg- 
ment, Heaven, and Hell ; " '' Knox's 
Martyrologie ; " '' Latin Bible." 

Washington bought articles at the 
Belvoir sale, but '' no books," and no 
wonder, when the contents of the Bel- 
voir Library are contrasted with the 
long list of titles comprising the Mount 
Vernon Library. From Newburg, be- 
fore the Revolutionary War closed, he 
sent to New York a comparatively large 
order, naming more than a dozen books, 
mostly historical, and adding : '' If there 
is a good bookseller's shop in the city I 
would thank you for sending me a cat- 
alogue of the books and their prices, 
that I mav choose such as I want." The 
word want indicates the hunger he al- 
ways felt for books as the pabulum of 
reliable information ; the foundation for 
efficient action ; and this, in later as in 
earlier years. Whether founded on 
French or English works, Washington's 
MS. rules for behavior give addition- 
al interest to that volume found in 
our day with the name George Wash- 
ington, 1742, on the fly-leaf in a boyish 



40 WasJiington and the Light and 

hand. In connection with the late civil 
war, the book was brought to public 
notice as possibly furnishing materials 
for his rules for behavior in company, 
as the old French rules, and also Hale's 
'' Contemplations," valued by his mother, 
may also have done. Young Washing- 
ton's valued little book by W. Mather, 
including legal forms, and information 
as to surveying, gardening, etc., thus 
brought to our attention, is called " The 
Young Man's Companion." Compre- 
hensive and suggestive, it is a sound 
foundation-stone, if but a solitary one, 
for a boy's early attempt at forming a 
working library. 

In accounts and letters of Washing- 
ton, I am informed by those best ac- 
quainted with them, are still ampler ev- 
idences than can be adduced here, that 
he was a book-buyer. Before me is a 
written memorandum of twenty -one 
guineas received from Washington for 
one useful publication. Added in- 
stances indicate his ever-growing inter- 
est in books, and the gradual but steady 
growth by gift and purchase of the ul- 
timately overflowing contents of his 
book-room. Instances also of his judi- 



Leading of His Library 41 

cious selection and use of books mul- 
tiplying beyond our ability to record 
them now may be codified in some fut- 
ure publication; here we trust are cited 
enough to indicate his interest in read- 
ing and the influence of books upon his 
contemplative and fore-casting mind. 

When the people, over-anxious per- 
haps, notwithstanding the triumphant 
close of the Revolution, re-echoed his 
suggestive, almost despairing assertion, 
*' We are one nation to-day and thirteen 
to-morrow," Washington prepared him- 
self, not as a theorist, but as a student 
of ancient and modern confederations. 
There is, we are assured, as to the con- 
stitutions of republics, ancient and mod- 
ern, "a paper in his handwriting which 
contains an abstract of each, in which are 
noted in methodical order their chief 
characteristics, the kind of authority 
they possessed, their modes of operation, 
and their defects. The confederacies 
analyzed in this paper are the Lycian, 
Amphictyonic, Achaean, Helvetic, Bel- 
gic, and Germanic. He also read the 
standard works on general politics, and 
the science of government, abridging 
parts of them according to his usual 



42 WasJiington and the Light and 

practice, that he might impress the es- 
sential points more deeply on his mind." 

Copying this paper at great length in 
his " Writings of Washington " (vol. ix., 
App.), as showing the '' minute in- 
quiry " and '' close attention " Washing- 
ton devoted to momentous questions, 
Sparks also gives the letter dated 
October 31, 1786, in which Washing- 
ton exclaims, '* You talk, my good sir, 
of employing influence to appease the 
present tumults. I know not where 
that influence is to be found, or if at- 
tainable that it would be the proper 
remedy for the disorders. Influence is 
not government^ While Washington's 
interest in books is further shown by his 
letter dated July 9, 1787, acknowledging 
the receipt of the volumes entitled " Let- 
ters of an American Farmer ; " that he 
continued reading with reference to the 
governmental questions of the hour is 
evidenced in the following from his 
letter dated Mount Vernon, November 
30, 1787. 

'' I have seen no publication yet, that 
ought in my judgment to shake the pro- 
posed constitution in the mind of an 
impartial and candid public. In fine, I 



Leading of His Library 43 



have hardly seen one, that is not ad- 
dressed to the passions of the people, 
and obviously calculated to alarm their 
fears. Every attempt to amend the con- 
stitution at this time is in my opinion 
idle and vain. If there are characters, 
who prefer disunion, or separate con- 
federacies, to the general government, 
which is offered to them, their opposi- 
tion may, for aught I know, proceed from 
principle ; but as nothing according to 
my conception of the matter is more to 
be deprecated than a disunion of these 
distinct confederacies, as far as my voice 
can go it shall be offered in favor of the 
latter. That ther^ are some writers, and 
others perhaps who may not have writ- 
ten, that wish to see this union divided 
into several confederacies, is pretty evi- 
dent. As an antidote to these opinions, 
and in order to investigate the ground 
of objections to the constitution which 
is submitted, the Federalist, under the 
signature of Publius, is written. The 
numbers, which have been published, 
I send you. If there is a printer in 
Richmond who is really well disposed 
to support the new constitution, he 
would do well to give them a place in 



44 Washington and the Light and 

his paper. They are, I think I may vent- 
ure to say, written by able men ; and 
before they are finished will, or I am 
mistaken, place matters in a true point 
of light. Although I am acquainted 
with the writers, who have a hand in 
this work, I am not at liberty to mention 
names, nor would I have it known, that 
they are sent by vie to you for promul- 
gation." 

The writers to whom Washington here 
refers are doubtless Alexander Hamilton, 
James Madison, and John Jay. Wash- 
ington's reading, however, including 
passing events, extended to past his- 
tory. His library was his stronghold, 
his arsenal whence he came to Assem- 
blies, Congresses, and the Constitutional 
Convention well furnished from books 
he had studied, and with citations he 
had written out. Thus he aimed to 
profit by the recorded experience of 
the past. When Franklin in that con- 
vention proposed daily prayers, he 
said : " We are assured in the sacred 
writings that except the Lord build the 
house, their labor is but in vain that 
build it." Familiar with the Bible and 
the Prayer Book, Washington, who pre- 



Leading of His Library 45 

sided, perhaps, prompted the motion. 
When consequently prayers were read 
by Bishop White, they were in terms 
so familiar to Washington that they not 
infrequently reappear in phrases of his 
published or familiar writings. The 
chair there used by Washington as the 
pi-esiding officer may still be seen, and 
on it the half -sun of which Franklin 
Avittily remarked that he had his doubts 
whether it was a rising or a setting sun. 
Upon the adoption of the Constitution 
of the United States, it was seen " to be 
a rising sun," and we may add that many 
of its brightest beams were reflected 
from the library at Mount Vernon. 
I Mount Vernon, by its name, reminded 
our hero of the srreat Admiral Vernon, 
I the commanding officer and friend of 
• his brother Lawrence, and of the fact 
that a midshipman's commission having 
been sought for him as early as 1746, he 
was restrained from entering the navy 
by his widowed mother's unwillingness 
to be parted from her boy. Later, love 
led him in an opposite course, from land 
to sea, when he left profitable employ- 
ment to tend one who loved him. Thus 
his only seafaring experience was his 



46 Washington and tJie Light and 

youthful voyage to and from the West 
Indies with his dying- brother Lawrence. 
Nevertheless, naval subjects are among 
those of his library. And as showing 
his use of the opportunities he had, an 
able critic has said, of what he esteems 
the best and most remarkable of recent 
works on naval subjects, that when it 
comes down to its principles, new as is 
the work, the gist of it all is found in a 
few lines quoted from Washington. As 
we read correspondence expressing the 
ardent wish of the family that his moth- 
er could be persuaded to let Washington 
go to sea, we note that the Washingtons 
and Fairfaxes on opposite sides a century 
earlier, were by marriage and other ties 
now united. 

Lord Fairfax finally returning to visit 
his estate, was at the neighboring man- 
sion of Belvoir, and had crossed the 
water this time to stay. Washington, 
forced by his sense of filial duty to stay 
also, turned as a landsman to devour the 
books within his reach. Lord Fairfax 
and that cultured circle of Washington's 
relatives and connections furthering his 
literary tastes and pursuits, and no veil 
obscuring- his character and course, we 



Leading of His Library 47 



conclude that even at this early period 
he was in a most real sense a thoughtful 
and intelligent reader, and one laying 
sound foundation for a useful and honor- 
able career. There are those who find 
it, therefore, hard to forgive the novelist 
who, although writing as if in touch 
with colonial Virginians and with young 
Washington himself, yet from inade- 
quate information gives what purports 
to be a portrait of him, but is rather a 
misleading sketch or a poor caricature. 
However, he did full justice to Wash- 
ington in his maturity. For in closing 
his lectures on the four Georges, Thack- 
eray contrasts with the last of them, our 
great George, who, well-meaning as the 
best of the royal Georges, and pleas- 
ing in manners and appearance as the 
worst of them, and surpassing in firm- 
ness the stubbornness of any of them, 
attained not only an eminence, but a 
literary style and cultured excellence 
[Which is seen happily illustrated in his 
[resignation quoted in the course of the 
contrast : 

"The year 1784 was remarkable in the 
life of our friend, the First Gentleman of 
Europe. Do you not know that he was 



48 Washington and the LigJit and 

twenty-one in that year and opened 
Carlton House with a grand ball to the 
nobility and gentry, and doubtless wore 
that lovely pink coat which we have de- 
scribed ? I was eager to read about the 
ball, and looked to the old magazines for 
information. The entertainment took 
place on the tenth of February. In the 
European Magazine of March, 1784, I 
came straightway upon it. . . . 

*' In the Gent le mail s Magazine for the 
very same month and year — March, 
1784 — is an account of another festival, 
in which another great gentleman of 
English extraction is represented as tak- 
ing a principal share : — 

''According to order, H. E., the com- 
mander-in-chief, was admitted to a public 
audience of Congress ; and, being seated, 
the President, after a pause, informed 
him that the United States assembled 
were ready to receive his communica- 
tions, whereupon he arose and spoke as 
follows : 

*' * Mr. President — The great events on 
which my resignation depended having 
at length taken place, I present myself 
before Congress to surrender into their 
hands the trust committed to me, and to I 



Leading of His Library 49 

claim the indulgence of retiring from the 
service of my country. 

" * Happy in the confirmation of our 
independence and sovereignty, I resign 
the appointment I accepted with diffi- 
dence ; which, however, was superseded 
by a confidence in the rectitude of our 
cause, the support of the supreme pow- 
er of the nation, and the patronage of 
Heaven ; I close this last act of my of- 
ficial life by commending the interests 
of our dearest country to the protection 
of Almighty God, and those who have 
the superintendence of them to His holy 
keeping. Having finished the work as- 
signed me, I retire from the great thea- 
tre of action ; and, bidding an affection- 
ate farewell to this august body, under 
whose orders I have so long acted, I 
here offer my commission and take my 
leave of the employments of my public 
life.' To which the President replied : 

" * Sir, having defended the standard 
of liberty in the New World, having 
taught a lesson useful to those who in- 
flict and those who feel oppression, you 
retire with the blessings of your fellow- 
citizens ; though the glory of your vir- 
tues will not terminate with your mill- 



50 Washington and the Light and 

tary command, but will descend to re- 
motest ages.' " 

'* Which was the most splendid spec- 
tacle ever witnessed — the opening feast 
of Prince George in London, or the re- 
signation of Washington ? Which is the 
noble character for after-ages to admire 
— yon fribble dancing in lace and span- 
gles, or yonder hero who sheathes his 
sword after a life of spotless honor, a 
purity unreproached, a courage indomit- 
able, and a consummate victory ? Which 
of these is the true gentleman ? What is 
it to be a gentleman ? Is it to have lofty 
aims, to lead a pure life, to keep your 
honor virgin, to have the esteem of 
your fellow-citizens, and the love of 
your fireside ; to bear good fortune 
meekly ; to suffer evil with constancy, 
and through evil or good to maintain 
truth always? Show me the happy man 
whose life exhibits these qualities, and 
him we will salute as gentleman, what- 
ever his rank may be ; show me the 
prince, the leader who possesses these, 
and he may be sure of our love and loy- 
alty." 

The devout conviction that Washing- 
ton was providentially prepared for this 



Leading of His Library 51 

great leadership and enduring influence 
arose even in his early career. Marvel- 
lous escapes in intercourse with the 
Indians and French, and from dangers 
then attending surveying and border 
life, and his early campaigns, led to ex- 
pressions such as that of President Da- 
vies, of New Jersey College, when a 
clergyman in Virginia : " As a remark- 
able instance of this, I may point out to 
the public that heroic youth, Colonel 
Washington, whom I cannot but hope 
Providence has hitherto preserved in 
so signal a manner for some important 
services to his country." 

As with Washington's timely studies, 
so the surveys and legal papers drawn by 
him are admirable. You may have no- 
ticed that while other topics were repre- 
sented, such as religion, education, med- 
icine, surveying, and the needs of farm 
and border life generally, a large pro- 
portion of the books of the Belvoir list 
relate to law and politics or govern- 
ment. These subjects preponderate in 
the smaller collections owned by most 
planters, and probably also among books 
commonly owned at the North. In con- 
tact with Indians, with slaves, with ad- 



52 Washington and the Light and 

venturers or marauders of various na- 
tionalities, a race of rulers was being 
formed. The books early within reach 
of Washington Avere of a governmental 
and practical character, and we know, as 
to his acquirements, the school of ardu- 
ous life in which they were put to the 
test and further developed. An archi- 
tect and builder, he has been presented 
here as an able journalist. This is true 
not only of the period already referred 
to, when the press, as we have it, not hav- 
ing come into being, Washington's let- 
ters and other Avritings moulded public 
opinion; but during his whole career i\ 
his journalistic ability was shown. He 
was abroad among the people of his 
neighborhood and made his presence 
felt in other places. 

Turn to his journals ; note especially 
the year 1774 and the month of Septem- 
ber, the period when the people were 
being prepared to undertake armed re- 
sistance against oppression. In his jour- 
nal for the month of September, under 
the heading, *' Where and how, and with 
whom my time is spent," we find him, 
except Sundays, dining daily with dif- 
ferent parties, and accepting other hos- 



Leading of His Library 53 

pitalities in centres of importance, and 
often with men of influence. Far from 
being a recluse, he was alert in the midst 
of exciting questions and anxious efforts, 
and thoroughly informed himself as does 
a conscientious journalist before aiming 
to influence others. He marshalled the 
people by his pen, for back of his potent 
presence, books, reading, carefully pre- 
pared statements founded on solid in- 
formation, were the grounds long over- 
looked of his great influence. This point 
is often missed in quoting the eloquent 
Patrick Henry's declaration as to the 
first Continental Congress at Philadel- 
phia: *' If you speak of solid informa- 
tion and sound judgment, Colonel Wash- 
ington is unquestionably the greatest 
man on the floor." 

More important than his practical 
and arduous military training, and even 
than his growing familiarity with the 
resources and possibilities of the coun- 
try from travel and study, more impor- 
tant even than the statistics and maps 
which came to crowd his library, relat- 
ing to the development of districts 
where railroads, steamers, and other 
means of inter - communication now 



54 Washington and the Light and 

crowd the scene ; most memorable as a 
preparation for his predestined duty, 
was his membership for fifteen years in 
the Virginia House of Burgesses. Con- 
sidering the ability of many of its mem- 
bers, and the great subjects they dis- 
cussed, it remained to the verge of the 
Revolutionary War, to say the least, an 
exceptionally fine parliamentary school. 
All that he does, says, writes, in 
these times that try men's souls, has 
that true American ring, which sounds 
in his letter from the first Continental 
Congress at Philadelphia, to Captain 
MacKenzie, stationed at Boston, re- 
garding any government or govern- 
ments *' upon this continent separately 
or collectively." . . . '' This you may 
rely upon, that none of them will ever 
submit to the loss of those valuable priv- 
ileges, wdiich are essential to the in- 
habitants of every free State ; and with- 
out which life, liberty, and property are 
rendered totally insecure." No lead- 
ing editorial in a great journal could 
have been better calculated to affect 
public opinion than such a letter, from 
such a man, at such a time, direct from 
the Continental Congress, to Boston, 



Leading of His Library 55 



and patriots there ; and thence to vast 
numbers of links along the chain of the 
sea-board population. Remarkable as a 
reader and a writer, he might well as 
a speaker have been called George the 
Silent. His own sense that silence is 
golden, is seen not only in his own 
usage, but in his letter of counsel to 
his nephew on becoming a member of 
the House of Burgesses : " If you have 
a mind to command the attention of the 
House, the only advice I will offer is to 
speak seldom, but on important sub- 
jects, and such as particularly relate to 
your constituents ; . . . make your- 
self perfectly master of the subject." 

The words last quoted are in point, 
in further showing Washington's habits 
in relation to books, and sound sources 
of information. His weight in the Con- 
stitutional Convention, as elsewhere, 
was not that of a talker, but because 
he had conscientiously read up and 
thought out matters of moment ; and 
aimed to act for the best without fear 
or favor. When later he urged the in- 
ternal development of the United States, 
his book-room, as I have just indicated, 
showed the foundations of his knowl- 



56 Washington and the Light and 

edge in maps, charts, and statistical in- 
formation relating to inter-State com- 
munication and commerce. How firm 
the foundation, on which from his li- 
brary he looked out upon the future ! 
He stood not as an ignorant prophet 
of evil, but from a well-furnished mind 
he pointed out dangers only to suggest 
sources of relief to be found in relat- 
ed books, both historical and constitu- 
tional. In 1789 he wrote, '' It is among 
my first wishes to see some plan adopt- 
ed by which slavery in this country 
may be abolished." In 1797, in a letter 
which I have read in his own handwri- 
ting, he wrote to Lawrence Lewis, '' I 
wish from my soul that the Legislature 
of this State could see the policy of a 
gradual abolition of slavery. It might 
prevent much future mischief." 

Education had been defective or neg- 
lected in this country. Not only was it 
among topics in his library and con- 
spicuous among his subjects of research 
and conference, but his aid to educa- 
tional institutions and to individuals 
desiring education, was so discrimi- 
nating and timely as to be a standing 
incentive to thoughtful liberality. As 



Leading of His Library 57 

early as 1769 he wrote to a parent who 
lacked means for a youth's collegiate 
course, " If you have no objections 
but the expense, depend on me. You 
must not consider it an obligation nor 
mention it, for be assured from me it 
will never be known." Schools, and 
colleges, and universities were remem- 
bered in his will, also. His writings, 
like his library, contain important sug- 
gestions, culminating in Avhat may well 
be termed the great educational states- 
manship of his proposal for a unifying 
national university. For such educa- 
tional conceptions as his (especially in 
one not a college man) spring from 
books and reading, they are not the 
simple offspring of " innate wisdom." 
We find marked allusions to them in 
his letters, as well as in his will. 

Regarding his wise bequest for a na- 
tional university, memorable are such 
words as these : '' Youths from all parts 
of the United States, instead of learn- 
ing principles from abroad, unfriendly 
to republican government and the true 
liberties of mankind, may be educated 
in all branches of the arts, sciences,' 
and literature, acquiring principles of 



* 



58 Washington and the Light and 

politics and good government ; and as 
a matter of infinite importance may 
form friendships in juvenile years, en- 
abling them to free themselves from 
those local prejudices and habitual jeal- 
ousies which are never-failing sources 
of disquietude and mischievous con- 
sequences to the country." Had his 
carefully studied and philanthropic and 
educational purposes been carried out 
by his successors, slavery would sooner 
have been abolished, the people might 
have been spared the fratricidal war, 
and the Union have triumphed from 
the first. That it might remain undis- 
turbed for all time was the purpose of 
Washington's forecasting policy and of 
his educational foundation, at the capi- 
tal of the country, which if built upon 
as he proposed would ere this have 
given the people a noble national uni- 
versity. 

Lamenting the scattering of his li- 
brary broadcast from Mount Vernon, 
we are at last assured that in close 
touch Avith much else which was once 
Washington's, permanent, fire-proof pro- 
vision is being made for a national col- 
lection, whose steady growth is already 



Leading of His Library 59 

reassuring. Together with some of his 
books, and a valuable mass of cognate 
literature, including many of his letters 
and papers, journals and related docu- 
ments, some of them autographs, some 
of them press copies, there are being 
secured there reliable transcriptions 
aiming to embody, for the student's use 
and the guidance of legislators, every 
line which Washington wrote. Treas- 
ures such as these, and others of ines- 
timable value, with means to make the 
collection one of the most useful as well 
as one of the greatest in the world — all 
this is to be perpetuated in the local 
habitation at last provided at Washing- 
ton. Not only as bearing his name, 
but as associated with his services, the 
place is fitting, and no obelisk could be 
a nobler monument to Washington 
than his writings preserved for the 
people in the National Congressional 
Library. 



I part Seconb 

I 



WASHINGTON : FAVORITE 
BOOKS AND PRESENTA- 
TION COPIES: A GIFTED 
, WRITER AND READER, 
HAD HE GENIUS? 

The literary material once in Wash- 
' ington's library, as we have learned 
I with regret, cannot be found at Mount 
( Vernon, whence it has been scattered 
beyond recall. If it were not so, his- 
j torians entering the library as Wash- 
I ington left it and examining its contents, 
', would find it instructive to take down 
' book after book from the shelves : from 
j marginal notes and other circumstances 
I they might hope to learn more cer- 
I tainly there than elsewhere his taste in 
I books, his principles as a reader, and 
I which were his favorites. The state- 
ment herewith recites the works in his 
library and lays the foundation on which 
the desired material may be accumu- 
lated. But years must be spent in 
searching his writings, and noting opin- 



64 Washington and Favorite 

ions and traditions, before important 
points such as we consider can be 
cleared up, to the satisfaction of those 
who think nothing unimportant which 
displays his character. 

What answer is there to the question 
in the light we have, "What were 
Washington's favorite books?" Evi- 
dently those from which he could gain 
promptly information, for the duty 
which lay nearest to him. If we ask 
what book he prized most, of the true 
answer we have no doubt. Of others it 
is not difficult to see from the books 
catalogued in his library and from 
what we have learned of the use he 
made of them, that, not excluding 
lighter literature, he was drawn most 
to such as equipped him for his public 
and private career. '* He was a con- 
stant buyer of books treating upon sub- 
jects in which he was interested." My 
thoroughly informed correspondent 
adds : '' His cash accounts show this, 
but do not always give the names of 
the books he bought. I think it may be 
assumed that the greater part of his 
library was of his own selection and 
procurement." If he did not send 



Books and Presentation Copies 65 



abroad for books, or buy rare or costly 
ones simply because of their scarcity 
and because of remarkable printing, 
paper, and binding, we find that the 
needed economy and demands of state, 
and practical calls, drew him in other 
directions. He offered the non-impor- 
tation resolutions unanimously adopt- 
ed b}^ the provincial convention of Vir- 
ginia. They were most aggressive. 
Naturally, therefore, he found what he 
needed while encouraging home trade, 
without resorting during the war to im- 
portation or unsuitable outlay. 

As friend turns to friend for counsel, 
and the advocate to the law library 
for precedents to make out his case, 
and the statesman to books at his com- 
mand for principles to support his 
cause, so was it with Washington. It 
is not yet known where or at what cost 
Washington obtained the works in his 
library relating to Civics ; we know 
that he consulted books on the subject 
and wrote out the results. The state- 
ment already made that his reading 
regarding such topics was thorough, 
thoughtful, and for a patriotic purpose 
is sustained by his letters and biography 

5 



66 Washington and Favorite 



by Sparks : *' His knowledg-e of the in- 
stitutions of his own country and of its 
political forms, both in their general 
character and minute and affiliated re- 
lations, gained by inquiry and long ex- 
perience, was probably as complete as 
that of any other man. But he was not 
satisfied with this alone. He read the 
history and examined the principles of 
the ancient and modern confederacies." 
While thus prepared for the meeting of 
the Constitutional Convention, Wash- 
ington's respect for law led him, al- 
though denouncing the defects of the 
Articles of Confederation, nevertheless, 
as they had not been abrogated, to call 
them in the following paragraph the 
constitution. " He was apprehensive 
that the delegates might come together 
fettered with instructions which would 
embarrass and retard, if not defeat 
the salutary end proposed : ' My wish 
is,' said he, 'that the convention may 
adopt no temporizing expedients, but 
probe the defects of the constitution 
to the bottom and provide a radi- 
cal cure. . . . Conduct of this kind 
will stamp wisdom and dignity on 
their proceedings, and hold up a light 



Books and Presentation Copies Gj 

which sooner or later will have its in- 
fluence.' " 

If subjects as far apart as nation- 
buildinof and bees are found in his li- 
brary, he could draw honey from each, 
not only lessons for his farm and mer- 
chandise, but for character - building, 
and for hiving-, housing, and sustaining 
a busy people ; and also for framing the 
structure of an enduring nation. There 
are those interested in learning how it 
was that such dissimilar material came 
to have place in his library. Those 
who regard it as an odd topic for that 
day ask how Jeffries's " Aerial Voyages," 
named in the appraiser's list, came to be 
among his books. As he became more 
and more famous, presentation copies, 
often with complimentary inscriptions, 
were repeatedly sent to him. Will not 
persons who can conveniently do so 
obligingly forward to me information 
not contained herein, and pertinent to 
questions such as the above, or stating 
the whereabouts of books claimed to 
have been Washington's, and furnish 
any related facts of interest ? In the ap- 
praiser's list, among books which Wash- 
ington could not but prize, since they 



68 Washington and Favorite 



relate to military matters, is a volume 
whose fate indicates not only that the 
contents of the library have been scat- 
tered but that search for the places 
where volumes may be found is by no 
means hopeless. The work referred to 
may be seen at the Library of the State 
of New York at Albany, and is called 
" Uniform of the Forces of Great 
Britain in 1742, Executed by John Pine," 
the engraver, and presented by his son 
to Washington. Said to be very rare, 
its interest centres in the ilkistrations 
representing the dress of the British 
army. 

It is principally, then, from the ex- 
amination of volumes once Washing- 
ton's that we may learn the relative 
value he placed upon books ; i^elated 
information may be had from other 
sources. Among his favorite topics 
were history and its modern correla- 
tive, economics. '' Smith's Wealth of 
Nations," published in 1776, the author- 
ity on economics then, and holding 
since a foremost place, we found in his 
library. From the appraiser's list we 
cited also '' Gibbon's Rome, 6 vols.," 
the last page and line of which was 



Books and Presentation Copies 69 

written in 1787. Additions to his li- 
brary were acquired in the years im- 
mediately preceding his death. Were 
there booksellers instructed to send 
him new publications of importance, or 
were the above and works such as 
'' History of Spain, 2 vols., 8vo," and 
'' Don Quixote, 4 vols.," and his other 
copy of '' Don Quixote," presentation 
copies? The books which came to 
Washington by inheritance, if not nu- 
merous, were useful. In the ''Complete 
View of the British Customs," his 
father, Augustine Washington, not only 
wrote his name and address several 
times, but the reader finds written 
therein also : '' His book, bought ye 4th. 
of May 1739 of ye book-seller under ye 
Royal Exchange for 7 pence." Some 
" Dryasdust " may yet inform us which 
of his books came b}^ inheritance, which 
by purchase, and which by presenta- 
I tion. We know that in some are his 
autograph, in others his book-plate, 
while some enjoy the distinction of hav- 
ing both. In his library were not on- 
ly foreign but American publications, 
some of an early date, some political 
and statistical, and some with his mar- 



70 Washington and Favorite 

ginal notes. In the private collection 
in New York of the founder of the 
Avery Memorial Architectural Library, 
as reported, is that work once owned 
by Washington entitled '' The Con- 
trast," being the first American comedy ; 
and in the celebrated collection of Mr. 
William H. Havemeyer are many vol- 
umes once Washington's. The relation 
of the Father of our Countr}^ to relig- 
ious books is considered later. 

The USE he made of books has been 
declared of most importance. Can we 
estimate which of his books he used 
most, even if we cannot decide as to 
each of them as yet whether or no it 
was a favorite ? Laws and constitu- 
tions were among topics to which he 
must often have turned. We have seen 
thcit he was well informed as to consti- 
tutions di republics, and such consti- 
tutions are few in number ; and the 
books for necessary information on 
practical essentials are few also. If a 
great book comes once in a century, 
twenty would comprise such produced 
since the Christian era. The books 
which were the foundation for his ade- 
quate and accurate information may yet 



Books and Presentation Copies /r 

be named. But now that the materials 
are scattered, the inductive and deduct- 
ive work, essential to the complete 
treatment of our topic, includes ex- 
cerpts from Washington's letters and 
literary material and from other quar- 
ters quite beyond our present limits. 
Works relatins: to his farms and Mount 
Vernon estate have been recognized 
from the first as among favorites often 
consulted. In Boston an examination 
of three hundred and eighty of the 
books of his library there, shows that 
between one and two hundred of the 
number are upon ^agriculture and re- 
lated matters. One who has been con- 
ducting an examination of Washing- 
ton's books and pamphlets for me there 
may enable me to furnish, in an append- 
ed statement or later publication, cor- 
rect titles, editors' and authors' names, 
size, date and place of publication, char- 
acter of paper and binding, the prices 
in the appraiser's list contrasted with 
sales of late, together with the presen- 
tations, notes and other inscriptions, and 
possibl}^ a full account of pamphlets 
now entered as " Miscellanies," but 
swelling the titles of the collection to a 



^2 WasJiington mid Favorite 

very much larger number than the in- 
ventory indicates. 

In a letter counselling- the proper 
education of a young friend Washing- 
ton writes that in addition to mathe- 
matics, modern lang-uao'es, and some 
other subjects, " he is unacquainted 
with several of the classic authors." 
Had Washington favorites among such 
authors ? Did he take volumes with 
him from his library to camp, Congress, 
and the capital, perhaps losing them by 
the way ? Suffice it here to say that 
whether he was like conquerors of old 
who had Homer with them in the tent, 
among books of his missing when the 
appraiser's list was made were two 
volumes of Homer's Iliad. His copy 
was not Homer in the original. Time 
and opportunity allowed him knowl- 
edge of only his native language, to 
which, however, he gave that marked 
attention which is its rightful due from 
all. Accordingly, it is not surprising 
to find Washington's autograph at 
seventeen written in the volume found 
in his library, entitled " The Roval 
English Grammar, containing what is 
necessary to the knowledge of the Eng- 



Books mid Presentation Copies "j^ 

lish tongue for the use of young gen- 
tlemen and ladies: London, 1747." His 
library also contained Johnson's Dic- 
tionary in two volumes, 1786. 

In Eno^land and on the Continent are 
found materials for our subject, includ- 
; ing volumes with choice autographs of 
Washington, of which one was bought 
, from Mr. Stevens " for the Bodleian, 
' and one for the Royal Library at Ber- 
! lin." Weighty facts as to his autograph 
I manuscripts in the possession of our 
j Government and of several of the States 
! and of private individuals and cognate 
I information is massed in the pamphlet 
! of which, as well as of that relating to 
I Washington as an inventor. Dr. J. M. 

^ Toner is the author. The collection 

I 

; of copies and autograph manuscripts 
of Washington owned by the United 
States is said to be the most complete 
in the world as well as the largest, and 
to be in safe custody, and further to 
confirm Washington's high rank as a 
man of letters and of books. Of late 
"there has appeared in the hands of 
autograph-dealers in New York several 
hundred certified returns of surveys 
with plates made along about 1750, 



74 Washington and Favorite 

1 75 1, and 1752, in the handwriting of 
George Washington. These had doubt- 
less been surreptitiously taken from the 
records of the counties in the Valley of 
Virginia, to which they had been re- 
turned in accordance with the law made 
and provided for the government of 
licensed surveyors. It is evident Vir- 
ginia is still being despoiled of her 
treasures." 

The public is to be cordially con- 
gratulated when at sales of Washing- 
toniana the Regents of Mount Vernon 
are represented and make purchases for 
that mansion ; or when any of the pub- 
lic collections in safe custody have 
income or other aid enabling them to 
rescue and safely place the flotsam and 
jetsam of the Mount Vernon library. 
The fine collection in the Boston Athe- 
nseum which I have seen is increased 
from year to year by an income for the 
purpose. With more than three hun- 
dred engraved portraits of Washington, 
four hundred books, and a thousand 
related pamphlets, it includes what has 
been called erroneously Washington's 
Library. An effort in Washington City 
having failed, just as what has thus 



Books and Presentation Copies 75 



been called the Washington Library was 
about to be alienated from this country 
by sale abroad ; it was purchased and 
thus placed, by distinguished subscrib- 
ers. Consequently there are nearly four 
hundred of the books on the sheh^es in 
the Athenseum, and you may be per- 
mitted to inspect them, as one who is 
making examinations for me has lately 
done. He reports that " while there 
are thirteen hundred titles found in 
the record of the Washington Library, 
even that inventory is very meagre, 
I as several hundred pamphlets are there 
represented by a verv small number 
jof titles." 

j Presentation copies are attracting at- 
( tention wherever found. We must visit 
': Mount Vernon to see that work already 
I referred to as having not only the ini- 
tials G. W. stamped upon the cover, but 
I a golden crown. If the binder designed 
I the crown as a flattering bait to ambi- 
jtion, it was misdirected. All those who 
'suggested a kingly crown to Washing- 
ton were without equivocation or hesi- 
tation sternly rebuked. What we know 
of Washington's autograph letters and 
ithe papers of Rochambeau in the Li- 



76 WasJiingtoii and Favorite 

brary of Congress show that nobleman 
to have harbored no such design. In 
the Athenaeum collection the reply to 
Paine's attack there has the fact indi- 
cated on the cover that it is a presenta- 
tion copy. There, too, is the '' Defence 
of the Constitution by John Adams." 
Appropriately there, printed by T. and 
J. Flat, at Heart and Crown, Cornhill, 
Boston, New England, is the '' Manual 
of Field Day Exercises and Reviews, 
as ordered by His Majesty in 1764." 
There is to be seen ''A plan wherein the 
power of steam is shown by a new con- 
structed machine, by James Ramsey of 
Virginia (1788), showing how vessels 
can be propelled against the most rapid 
stream." Presentation copies include 
volumes of the debates of the " House 
of Commons " of Great Britain, and a 
treatise inscribed '' For General Wash- 
ington from the British Board of Agri- 
culture." There are also treatises on 
the French Revolution, '' pro and con," 
sent to him from France. His firmness 
in 1793, and notwithstanding the alliance 
of 1783, prevented our joining France 
against England, and fixed our foreign 
policy of absolute neutrality. This has 



Books and Prcsentatio)i Copies 'jj 

its traces and to some extent its founda- 
tion in his library. 

Befoi'e quoting other inscriptions 
complimentary to Washington, a pas- 
sage from one of his letters, referring to 
the request of a flattering writer for the 
use of papers in his possession, is here 
in place. " Whenever Congress shall 
have opened their archives to any his- 
torian for information, he shall have the 
examination of all the others in my pos- 
I session which are subsequent thereto ; 
] but until that epoch, I do not think 
* myself at liberty to unfold papers which 
I contain all the occurrences and trans- 
actions of my late command. ... I 
will frankly declare to you, my Dr. Doc- 
tor, that any memoirs of my life, distinct 
and unconnected with the general his- 
tory of the war, would rather hurt my 
feelings than tickle my pride whilst I 
live. 1 had rather glide gently down 
the stream of life, leaving it to posterity 
to think and say what they please of 
me, than by any act of mine to have 
vanity and ostentation imputed to me." 
To another he writes in the following 
year (1785) : " This must be a very fu- 
tile work . . . either from my pa- 



y^ Washington and Favorite 

pers, or my recollection, . . . many 
of the former relative to the part 1 had 
acted in the war between France and 
Great Britain from the year 1754, until 
the peace of Paris, which contained 
some of the most interesting occur- 
rences of my life were lost. . . 
Memory is too treacherous to be relied 
on to supply this defect. ... I in- 
tended to have devoted the present ex- 
piring winter in arranging all my papers 
which I had left at home, and which 1 
found a mere mass of confusion (occa- 
sioned by frequently shifting them into 
trunks, and suddenly removing them 
from the reach of the enemy) — but how- 
ever strange it may seem it is never- 
theless true, that, what with company, 
references of old matters with which I 
ought not to be troubled — applications 
for certificates, and copies of orders, in 
addition to the routine of letters which 
have multiplied greatly upon me; — I 
have not been able to touch a single pa- 
per, or transact any business of my own, 
in the way of accounts, etc., during the 
whole course of the winter." 

Although modesty led Washington 
to deprecate praise in his lifetime, 



Books and Presentation Copies 79 

among- tributes worthy to be perpet- 
uated in full are the best of those in 
the presentation copies in his librar)^ 
That by Arthur Young is inscribed in 
his " Annals of Agriculture and other 
Useful Arts, in thirty-one volumes, 
London, 1784-98." In the last five vol- 
umes is the name of " Martha Wash- 
ington, 1800." Washington had pre- 
viously placed his name in twenty- 
Dne of them, '' 1798," being the very 
year before his death. Among pay- 
ments by Washington for publications 
in his library the following is of more 
than ordinary interest, as found in- 
dorsed on a letter to Lord Buchan, 
dated Philadelphia, June 20, 1792 : '' It 
was not till the tenth instant that I had 
the honor to receive your Lordship's 
second favor of the 15th of September 
which was enclosed in a letter from 
Doct'r James Anderson, and accom- 
panied with six volumes of the Bee.— 
These were forwarded by a Bookseller 
I at New York, who mentioned his hav- 
|ing received directions from Doct'r 
Anderson to submit them to me. I 
must therefore beg your Lordship's ac- 
ceptance of my warmest thanks for this 



8o VVasJiington and Favorite 

additional testimony of your politeness. 
— Considering myself a subscriber to 
the Bee, I have written to Doct'r An- 
derson to know in what manner I shall 
pay the money, that it may get reg- 
ularly to his hands. — With sincere pray- 
ers for the health and happiness of your 
Lordship — and gratefully impressed 
with the many marks of attention which 
I have received from you — I have the 
honor to be with great esteem," etc. 
On the back page the Earl of Buchan 
has written and signed '' B. Feb. 2, 
1800," the following: "I had presented 
to the General some volumes of Dr. 
Anderson's Bee & mentioned to him 
that I proposed to write some papers 
for that periodical work which might 
have a scope towards the United States. 
So attentive was the great and good 
man to the most minute circumstance 
that five guineas accompanied this let- 
ter for Dr. Anderson as a subscriber to 
his paper." 

Washington's pleasant humor must 
have pardoned the inscription of one 
whose heart was evidently not as bad as 
his muse : '' To George Washington, a 
name honored in History and immortal 



Books and Presentation Copies 8i 

as memory. Loved by the muses the 
following poem originated by enthusi- 
asm, is presented with Diffidence." 
Whatever you may think of the Hiber- 
nian dedication to be quoted in a mo- 
ment, its spirit is most praiseworthy 
compared with attempts to place Wash- 
ington in a ludicrous light which have 
abounded in proportion as the current 
rage for money-getting has decreased 
popular regard for much once respected. 
Disraeli's principle, true in the sense in 
which it was applied to the feudal sys- 
tem, which makes ability the measure 
of responsibility, seems regarded no 
longer by the typical plutocrat and even 
less by some bright writers. From Pa- 
ris, where are preserved valuable ma- 
terials relating to our subject, the fol- 
lowing assertion was lately cabled : " It 
will take longer to de-dollarize the 
United States than it did to de-Chris- 
tianize France." As we hold that 
France has not been de-Christianized, 
we are confident also that the United 
States zvill be Christianized, or, as the 
new phrase is, '' de-dollarized." In the 
coming centuries the nation, we have 
reason to believe, will grow in Chris- 
6 



WasJiington and Favorite 



tianity, and so slough off much which 
mars the fair fame of our boasted nine- 
teenth century, and with it the imper- 
tinent readiness to speak evil of digni- 
ties, and cheap wit such as that which 
has already done its worst herein with- 
out lowering the altitude of Washing- 
ton's greatness one inch in public es- 
teem. 

Those who have enjoyed the brilliant 
conversation of Mr. Charles O'Conor 
know that the great Irishmen of this 
age, like those of the past, have been 
cordial admirers of Washington. On 
the fly-leaf of " Thoughts of an Utilist 
on the Interests of Mankind and partic- 
ularly on those of the Irish nation, Dub- 
lin, 1785," has been found the following: 
'' March 12, 1796. To his Excellency 
Gen. Washington. The Hibernian Util- 
ist who never appeared in print until 
he was past the age of sixty-five, pre- 
sents two of his scribbles to ye great 
Washington ye most distinguished Util- 
ist now existing on ye surface of our 
orb. This being an honest Hibernian's 
sincere opinion of ye illustrious general ; 
he need not describe his feelings with 
regard to that personage because those 



Books mid Presentation Copies 83 

feelings must be intense in exact pro- 
portion to the goodness of ye Hiber- 
nian's own heart." 

An interesting writer whose name I 
have been unable to learn prepared an 
article, giving an account of his visit to 
the Boston Athenseum and Washing- 
toniana there, which I am informed by 
Mr. J. C. Lane, the librarian, appeared 
in the evening edition of the Boston 
Herald of January 6, 1894. A friend 
on the spot finding that the article was 
out of print has sent me — from the files, 
I presume — pencil notes received as I 
write, and most serviceable in this con- 
nection. 

In the Washington Library of the 
Boston Athenaeum the " most frivolous 
bits of literature were a couple of vol- 
umes of ' John Buncle ' published anony- 
mously, but really by an Englishman 
named Thomas Amory. Readers of 
Lamb and Hazlitt will remember how 
they discussed this curious book. 
Amory was a Unitarian, and this Bun- 
cle roams over England, meeting con- 
stantly beautiful women who are always 
Unitarians, and marries them one after 
\ the other; in each case he tarries with 



84 Washington and Favorite 

his wife's father a year until she dies." 
Whether Washington's interest in such 
a publication was inferred from his hav- 
ing a brother noted for his oft marry- 
ings is not stated. On turning to the 
appraiser's list you will find this pecul- 
iar work under the title " Life of John 
Buncle, 2 vols." If not adequate the 
list is suggestive, and shows as now 
starred herewith, where the student or 
collector may be certain that from three 
to four hundred of Washington's books 
are to be found. 

The following inscription is more 
suited to the serious aspects of our sub- 
ject, as from the pen of John Marshall, 
first chief justice of the Supreme Court, 
Avhen transmitting a volume of plates to 
Mount Vernon, with this note: "Mr. 
Marshall has the honor of sending to 
the President of the United States an 
exemplar of a monument erected by 
Prince Henry of Prussia to the mem- 
ory of the officers who distinguished 
themselves in the Avars between Prus- 
sia and the House of Austria. Mr. 
Marshall is directed by his Royal Higli- 
ness to request the President's accept- 
ance of this as a testimony of the great 



Books and Presentation Copies 85 

respect and esteem he feels for his char- 
acter." 

We have reproduced above the cata- 
logue of the Library of Belvoir. Copied 
in the record by '' a later hand," when 
adding a volume of Washington's to the 
list, dated 1774, is the following: ''A 
Compendious View of the Civil War ; 
being the substance of a course of lect- 
ures read in the University of Dublin 
by Arthur Browne Esq. Professor of 
Civil Law in the University, and Repre- 
sentative in Parliament for the same, 
1777. Inscription: To his Excellency, 
General Washington with the utmost 
respect this book is humbly presented 
by the Author, once an American ; who 
knew in America his earliest and hap- 
piest days." Is there not foundation 
here for a revolutionary romance ? In 
the presentation copy of Young's work 
above referred to is the following in- 
scription : " To General Washington in 
testimony of the veneration I feel for so 
good and great a character." 

Conspicuous in presentation copies 
and public addresses in his day, tributes 
not only at home but abroad have con- 
tinued to multiply. A leader among 



86 Washington and Favorite 



living statesmen and theologians adds 
to them from Hawarden Castle. His 
life has ever found its centre in books, 
and his work in his library continues to 
be potent. Respecting the reading man, 
as well as the man of action, he would 
be first to detect and disapprove a writer 
who, planning and building a library, 
and in his correspondence referring to 
books as the fountain of knowledge, and 
treating his library or book-room as the 
heart of his home, neglected to make 
such use of it as his duties permitted 
and demanded. But, on the contrary, 
Gladstone writes : " Washington is to 
my mind the purest figure in history." 
As though echoing across the century 
sounds our American minister's asser- 
tion, in 1797, that in England ''all par- 
ties " admire Washington as '' not on- 
ly the most illustrious, but the most 
meritorious character that has yet 
appeared." This accords with Lord 
Brougham in making "• appreciation of 
Washington " the test '' of the progress 
of mankind." 

Fontanes, directed by Napoleon to 
pronounce the eulogy of France upon 
Washington, proclaimed him '' a charac- 



Books and Presentation Copies 87 

ter worthy the best days of antiquity ; " 
and Chas. James Fox declared that '' a 
character of virtues so happily tempered 
by one another, and so wholly unalloyed 
by any vices, is hardly to be found on 
the pages of history." The author of 
the second Hoffman Lecture tells me, in 
a recent conversation, that the son of 
the Duke of Wellington, being his host, 
said that the Duke, his father, regarded 
Washington as the purest and greatest 
man of his time, and probably of all 
times, and therefore had declined a com- 
mand against the United States. Eng- 
land's laureate's lines on Wellington 
may, many of them, be applied to Wash- 
ington : 

" Rich in saving common-sense, 
And as the greatest only are, 
In his simplicity sublime ; 
O good gray head which all men knew, 
O voice from which their omens all men drew ; 
O iron nerve to true occasion true. 
And thro' the centuries let a people's voice 
In full acclaim, 

The proof and echo of all human fame, 
Attest the great Commander's claim 
With honor, honor, honor to him, 
Eternal honor to his name." 



88 Wasliiiigton and Favorite 



A French vessel passing Mount Ver- 
non while Washington's remains awaited 
burial sadly saluted with flag and bell. 
A similar sentiment of respect has in- 
variably led all vessels since, as they 
pass, to '' toll the bell." In an old letter 
to General Braddock we read : '' Is Mr. 
Washington among 3'our acquaintances? 
If not, I must recommend you to em- 
brace the first opportunity to form his 
friendship. He is about twenty-three 
years of age, with a countenance both 
mild and pleasant, promising both wit 
and judgment. He is of a comely and 
dignified demeanor, and at the same 
time displays much self-reliance and de- 
cision. He strikes me as being a young 
man of an extraordinary and exalted 
character, and is destined, I am of opin- 
ion, to make no inconsiderable figure in 
our country." Better than '' making a 
figure," his career proved such as to 
justify Gladstone's exalted estimate : " I 
look upon Washington, among great 
and good men, as one peculiarly good 
and great: he has been to me for more 
than forty years a light upon the path 
of life." 

Called great by earth's greatest, I 



Books and Presentation Copies 89 

am asked, in view of his gifts as reader, 
writer, and mature man, " Had he gen- 
ius?" In answering the question, ap- 
propriate under this division of our sub- 
ject, and regarded by some authorities 
as of essential importance, excerpts of 
abiding value on other grounds also 
might well be published. Tributes to 
Washington should be carefully col- 
lated and distributed broadcast. The 
various societies of Revolutionary or 
colonial name and fame engaging in 
philanthropic efforts, such as Wash- 
ington commended to the Cincinnati, 
might secure and disseminate tributes 
uttered, some before, some at the time 
of his death, and some since that mem- 
I orable event. Jewels in our country's 
' crown and reflecting his attributes, they 
would glow as guiding lights. The 
following occurs in a printed sermon, 
recently recovered, which was deliv- 
ered by my grandfather, the late Presi- 
( dent Eliphalet Nott, after the death of 
Washington : '' The glory of furnishing 
protectors belongs to God ; and who 
does not see his wisdom and goodness 
in raising up such a character at such a 
crisis ? His equal has not existed for 



90 WasJiington and Favorite 

ages, and probably will not for ages to 
come. Like the celebrated leader of 
Israel, he ivas great in the sight of all his 
people and all their enemies. Great with 
respect to the energies of his mind, the 
resources of his genius, and great with 
respect to that divine efficacy which 
stamped victory on his arms, and 
crowned his exertion with success." 
Herein Washington's genius is lauded. 
But, as now understood, had he genius? 
The conception which the parable of 
the talents seems to have made part of 
the consciousness of Christian races is 
that talent is any gift coupled with re- 
sponsibility. If genius is responsible, 
good judgment contrasted with genius 
will better express the common concep- 
tion than to speak of genius and talent 
as contrasted. Instead of saying that 
a man has talent but not genius, we 
might well, as talents include it, say he 
has genius but. not good judgment, or, 
vice versa, he has judgment but not 
genius. However, when one is called 
a genius in one breath, it is but a left- 
handed compliment to be styled in 
the next a " mattoid," a " degenerate," 
a " graphomaniac," a " border - land 



Books and Presentation Copies 91 

dweller" between the realms of the 
sane and the insane ; Legrain holding 
that genius coexists with meanness and 
lack of balance ; Guerinsen defining gen- 
ius as ''a disease of the nerves," while 
Nordau, as though making a conces- 
sion, concludes: "Science does not as- 
sert that every genius is a lunatic." 

Is, then, Nordau a striking illustration 
of his own theory ? That judgment 
seems scarcely sane which sees no gen- 
eral growth in sanity as going along 
with civilization. Contrast with the 
present the cruelties of the past in war 
and peace, in instruments of torture, in 
usages of oppression ; accepted as a 
matter of course then, they are de- 
nounced and disused now — doubtless a 
measure of hardness of heart remains. 
If, as Bishop Butler suggested to his 
chaplain, nations, like individuals, may 
suddenly go mad ; if, as we see, mis- 
fortunes to persons and peoples come 
largely from unsound judgment, it goes 
without saying that for better results 
physical, mental, moral, healthful de- 
velopment is essential. For deliver- 
ance from the derangement of the fall, 
for permanent recovery from all falls, 



^2 Washington and Favorite 

is not the spread of sanity now admit- 
ted to be essential ? Doubtless the 
times, if stimulating, are exciting, and 
nervous diseases increase. Of late we 
hear of degeneration as going along 
with genius and with pretty much 
everything else. This is to lose sight 
of the fact that, in nations and indi- 
viduals, increasing consciousness of de- 
fects is often a mark, not of degen- 
eration, but of aspiration, and of the 
determination on ''stepping-stones of 
their dead selves " to rise to higher 
things. 

Conscience grows more sensitive, 
judgment more sound, the moral hori- 
zon clears up, the standard of conduct 
is more exacting, conceptions of duty 
rise as ideals become more Christlike. 
Acts are held to be infamous now 
which passed current in the cities of 
the Orient and in the Roman Empire ; 
while conduct recognized as custom- 
ary, and condoned if not approved then, 
now brings the perpetrator deep dis- 
trust if suspected and indignant con- 
demnation if proved. Is it not more 
reasonable to conclude that better prin- 
ciples have been generally diffused, and 



Books and Presentation Copies 93 

a higher point of view attained, than, 
looking out upon the disorders and dis- 
satisfactions of the times, to say either 
that all men are liars or that all men are 
mad. and that this planet is the Lunatic 
Asylum of the Solar System ? This 
discussion, dem.anded by the failure to 
recognize his relation to books, discloses 
the growing greatness of Washington. 
Independent of stimulants, abnormality, 
and superficial quickness, books and the 
use he made of them and of his pen, 
these must be credited with due share 
of influence, when estimating his ex- 
traordinary powers of statement and of 
self-command. By his reading habits as 
well as by nature and principle, his ar- 
dent character and impulsive will and 
quick temper were subordinated to his 
regulative faculties. Yet he had also 
the imagination and intuitional facul- 
ties considered characteristic of genius. 
The question remains, is genius re- 
sponsible ? Certainly not according to 
some self-constituted authorities, or to 
the readiness with which public opinion 
excuses the lawlessness or excesses of 
genius ; not if we follow Morel's reason- 
ing to its end ; not if Lombroso is right 



94 Washington and Favorite 

and genius is thus abnormal. He cites 
many instances — Napoleon an epileptic, 
Carlyle an insane dyspeptic, and so on — 
pointing to genius as a form of insanity. 
The misconception as to genius lies in 
supposing there are two separate and 
exclusive types of men, whereas gifts 
mingle. There are people of great and 
little genius ; the latter are called origi- 
nal or eccentric, but the type is marked; 
and so there are people of restricted 
judgment, but what they have is good ; 
and in almost all there are indications 
of both types. Even in youth a great 
genius reaches ends by short-cuts in 
flashes of illumination, acts appearing 
instinctive. The man of judgment plods, 
but arrives, and usually at the right 
place, at the right time. But with him 
habit is potent, and so his acts become 
apparently more and more intuitional ; 
prompt under the pressure of necessity, 
and in deliberate foresight he ultimately 
accomplishes that which in another at 
an early age would be called genius. 

If human life were long enough — a 
thousand years more or less — the evo- 
lution of experienced judgment into 
genius, and of genius into sound judg- 



Books and Presentation Copies 95 

ment, would show, as we might have in- 
ferred, that the two are one in essence, 
the difference being a question of degree 
and development. And this develop- 
ment in Washington had its source in 
his library. Informed from the lessons 
of history, and loving his country with 
more even than a mother's love, through 
the throes and agony of his great bur- 
dens and supremely from experience, 
necessity, and his deep and devout rela- 
tion to books, his intuitional faculties 
came to birth. If in all potentially, 
though often long dormant, in him they 
rose until he could project himself into 
the future for the benefit of his country 
and of humanity. 

In recalling earlier De Kalb's esti- 
mate I quoted from Lecky's " England in 
I the Eighteenth Century." Incidentally 
I observe that he credits Washington 
I with much that could only come from 
J books; and his estimate of Washington, 



presented above, is as follows. To this 
class ''belong the superintending, re- 
straining, discerning, and directing fac- 
ulties which enable men to employ their 
several talents with sanity and wisdom, 



96 Washington and Favorite 

which maintain the proportion of intel- 
lect and character, and make sound 
judgments and well-regulated lives. It 
was at first the constant dread of large 
sections of the American people that if 
the old government were overthrown 
they would fall into the hands of mili- 
tary adventurers and undergo the yoke 
of military despotism. It was mainly 
the transparent integrity of the character 
of Washington that dispelled the fear. 
It was always known by his friends, and 
it was soon acknowledged by the whole 
nation, and by the English themselves, 
that in Washington America had found 
a leader who could be induced by no 
earthly motive to tell a falsehood, or to 
break an engagement, or to commit any 
dishonorable act. It is one of the great 
advantages of the long practice of free 
institutions that it diffuses through the 
community a knowledge of character 
and a soundness of judgment which save 
it from the enormous mistakes that are 
almost always made by enslaved nations 
when suddenly called upon to change 
their rulers. No fact shows so eminent- 
ly the high intelligence of the men who 
managed the American Revolution as 



Books and Presentation Copies 97 

their selection of a leader whose quali- 
ties were so much more solid than brill- 
iant, and who was so entirely free from 
all the characteristics of a demagogue." 

As Homer and Shakespeare were in 
his library, he had before him the two 
instances in which the imaginative or 
intuitional and the regulative faculties 
or judgment are harmoniously blended 
in one person. Ultimately so it was with 
Washington. Happy the nation having 
such a character as an exemplar! 

We have not space at this point for 
all the appropriate citations at hand. Di- 
gressions may be pardoned which, re- 
affirming Washington's closer relation 
to books, also recall the lasting impres- 
sion made on many of us in youth by the 
presentation of his moral character and 
genius. We have had enough of late of 
Napoleonic revivals, both in literature 
and in business. This study to-day, re- 
calling Washington's Mount Vernon li- 
brary, appropriate for a library lecture, 
is but a neglected feature of that larger 
subject, which, if duly impressed now, 
will add to the moral wealth of coming 
centuries. 
• - The assertion by President Nott of 



98 Washington and Favorite 

his belief in Washington's genius recalls 
words spoken years later by my father, 
Vice-President Potter, repeated after 
he became Bishop of Pennsylvania, and 
still remembered by many: "We are 
proud to point to Washington as one 
whose fame shines with vestal purity, 
whose outward deeds are but the reflec- 
tion of his inward principles, and who, 
after all the examples which the world 
has had of great powers coupled with 
great meanness or great guilt, appeared 
as if to reanimate expiring faith in virtue 
and in man. We point to him as one 
to whom the young can look without 
catching the contagion of splendid wick- 
edness, without imbibing the perilous 
belief that lofty talents and endowments 
must needs be associated with signal 
frailties, and that the latter should be 
pardoned, and even respected, for the 
sake of the former. Let us never for- 
get that there is something better than 
Washington's renown. It is his worth. 
It is the moral greatness which belonged 
not so much to his deeds as to himself, 
and which, if it had found no theatre in 
the presence of the world, would have 
found it in the retirement of his neigh- 



Books and Presentation Copies 99 

borhood and home." From other ex- 
pressions of the bishop as to Washing- 
ton, it is evident that he believed that 
he must have been a reading man, al- 
though his many engagements did not 
permit him to look up facts to prove 
it. Have not others asked, how could 
Washington have written this paper, 
done that deed, spoken such words, ex- 
cept as informed by books ? 

We have seen that the critical days of 
the Revolution, of constitution-building 
and opening administration, called for 
a man strongest in judgment. Erratic, 
impatient, unbalanced, selfish, self-con- 
scious, egotistic genius, with its fiashy 
successes, if it landed the people, it 
would have been in wreck and ruin. 
" Genius of the crank order " has never 
been able to appreciate Washington. 

I But how shall we account for it that 
when critics essay to deal with our na- 
tional hero the result, especially of late, 

I is sometimes so offensive a presentation, 
if not an intentional misrepresentation ? 
It arises partly from causes such as 
these, i.e., letters of Washington emas- 
culated and published by devotees of 
dignity, or what not, but robbed by 



lOO Wasliington and Favoj'ite 



whole passages of their fire and force ; 
characteristic words and deeds sup- 
pressed ; misrepresentations of him as 
'' priggish," and especially of his boy- 
hood as of the infant Hercules order, de- 
rived from Weems and others, as a gifted 
friend suggests. Thus, possibly, has 
come to birth the ridiculous notion that 
he was but a wooden sort of giant. But 
the English actor, incidentally meeting 
him and helping him set to rights a poor 
couple's overturned heavy wagon, and 
then recognizing Washington, who in- 
vited him to hospitable entertainment 
at Mount Vernon, close at hand, ar- 
dently praises his table-talk. Bernard 
recalls wise words about the theatre, as 
though the Mount Vernon library had 
its Shakespeare for use rather than for 
ornament. For Washington's reading 
included polite letters, not only when, 
by Lord Fairfax at Greenway Court, he 
was introduced to the "Spectator," but, 
as we have remarked, in following years. 
It is in point, too, that Bernard further 
gives sparkling instances of his esprit, 
quoting his playful exclamation as to 
having seen him act, and being pleased, 
also, that on another stage and without 



Books and Presentation Copies loi 

a prompter he could play so effective a 
part. All of which suggests that Mc- 
Master's conclusion was correct, that 
the President or the General was com- 
monly known, but not the man, Wash- 
ington. 

Was it not the eloquence of genius 
when Washington, late in life, learning 
that his fellows had been treacherously 
misled toward a course dangerous to 
them and to the country, appeared un- 
expected, unattended, in their midst, 
and removing his spectacles slowly and 
sadly, suggesting that having grown old 
in the service of his country, perhaps 
now he was growing blind, in a brief 
address, replete with reason and princi- 
ple as well as with deep feeling, turned 
the tide in the right direction? If great 
faculties, benevolently active and work- 
ing harmoniously, constitute true genius, 
genius was characteristic of Washing- 
ton. Is genius the art of taking pains ? 
Surely Washington had that. As his 
books, his writings, and his life pass 
under review, if we do not find marks of 
genius conspicuous in young Washing- 
ton, we find not only the " old man elo- 
quent," but gifted with the foresight of 



WasJiington and Favorite 



genius ; as when favoring the abolition 
of slavery, and linking the States and 
Territories in bonds of intercommunica- 
tion, tending to develop resources and 
extend commerce, he warned the peo- 
ple against the excesses of party and the 
danofers of sectionalism ; enforced neu- 
trality abroad and non-intervention at 
home ; made provision against secession 
by his bequest for an antisectional na- 
tional university, and proclaimed the 
principles of " abiding union." 

Since the above was formulated I 
find that one, famous for his lecture 
which secured some fifty thousand dol- 
lars for the Mount Vernon fund, and 
noted for his saying that Washington 
'' of all the men that have ever lived 
was the greatest of good men and the 
best of great men," although not dis- 
closing to his readers Washington's lit- 
erary excellence, yet discovered and pro- 
claimed his "genius." Edward Everett 
having spoken as above, regarded rec- 
ognition of his genius as so essential 
to an adequate estimate of Washing- 
ton, and his conclusion is so clear and 
cogent that we may well concur in it. 
'' Without adopting Virgil's magnificent 



Books afid Presentation Copies 103 



but scornful contrast between scientific 
and literary skill, on the one hand, and 
those masterful arts on the other by 
which victories are gained and nations 
are governed, we must still admit that 
the chieftain who, in spite of obstacles 
the most formidable and vicissitudes the 
most distressing, conducts great wars 
to successful issues — that the statesman 
who harmonizes angry parties in peace, 
skilfully moderates the counsels of con- 
stituent assemblies, and without the re- 
sources of rhetoric, but by influence 
mightier than authority secures the for- 
mation and organization of govern- 
ments, and in their administration es- 
tablishes the model of official conduct 
for all following time, is endowed with 
a divine principle of thought and action 
as distinct in its kind as that of Demos- 
thenes or Milton. It is the genius of 
consummate manhood." 



part XTbirb, 



THE FATHER OF OUR 
COUNTRY AND THE 
BOOK OF BOOKS. 

Of one book of which there were cop- 
ies of note in the Mount Vernon library 
to say only it was a favorite would be 
far below the mark. World-moulding-, 
character-shaping, the sinner's friend, 
the saint's inspiration, rulers' Book and 
peoples' Book : was it not to Washing- 
ton as the man of his counsels and the 
guide of his steps? Bishop Wilson's 
insight into character is well known ; we 
see it in the " Sacra Privata," and again 
in his gift to the Father of our Country of 
the noble Bible he presented him. That 
Washington prized it and appreciated 
the giver is shown by its being singled 
out in his will for special mention. It 
is there referred to just before his appro- 
priate bequest to Lafayette : " To the 
Reverend, now Bryan Lord Fairfax, I 
give a Bible in three folio volumes with 



io8 TJie Father of Our Country 

notes, presented to me by the Right 
Reverend Thomas Wilson, Bishop of 
Sodor and Man." 

This title, " Lord " Fairfax, in Wash- 
ington's will reminds us of his letter, of 
March i8, 1798, to the Rev. Mr. Fairfax, 
who had sailed for England, and there 
claimed his title and consequently his 
seat in the House of Lords, where he sat 
once and then returned to his American 
home, Mount Eagle. We may add from 
the same volume that ''the Fairfax family 
in America is represented by a cultivated 
and unpretending gentleman residing in 
the neighborhood of Washington City,'* 
entitled to a seat in the House of Lords 
which he might take at any time. In 
Washington's library was also ** Wil- 
son's Works," and I found at the Lenox 
Library, in one of his letters in his press 
copy, the following : '' Philadelphia, July 
loth, 1795. — . . . Acknowledging a 
copy of the works of the Bishop of Sodor 
and Man, which agreeably to the wish of 
the late Dr. Wilson, his son, you had 
the goodness to send me. Accept now, 
I pray )^ou, my thanks, . . . and the 
assurance that delay in writing you did 
not proceed from want of respect to the 



and the Book of Books 109 

memory of the author, his son, or your- 
self, but to mere accident." 

We need further information as to 
Washington's Bibles and religious 
books. Mr. William Evarts Benjamin 
tells me that in examining some two 
hundred of Washington's letters, thirty 
to forty were found to relate to books; 
an exhaustive examination of his letters 
may yet prove beyond question the 
claim that he was '' built on books." 
While the appraiser's list records his 
ownership of Brown's Folio Bible, one 
would also be glad to examine related 
books, such as that called in the same 
list a '* History of the Holy Scriptures." 
Others, and great orators among them, 
have lauded the Bible for its influence 
in forming a fine literary style, and he 
unconsciously imbibed this benefit, but 
his use of it was devout, and he read it 
not only for himself but often to others. 
From many instances, we recall one men- 
tioned by one of his best and best-known 
aides in the French and Indian wars, that 
on Sunday he had ''frequently known 
Washington, in the absence of the chap- 
lain, to pray with the regiment and read 
the Scriptures." Lay reading by leaders 



no The Father of Our Country 

of eminence and men of devotion hap- 
pily continues. Washington searched 
the Scriptures, and in mentioning other 
helps to individuals and nations esti- 
mated, "above all," as he declared in 
1783, "the pure and benign light of 
revelation." 

If the Prayer-books he used in the 
church services he regularly attended, 
whether in the parish near home or 
wherever his country called him, could 
be collected, the association would 
make them priceless. Not only do 
his pviblic and private papers show the 
influence of the liturgy upon his lan- 
guage and his life, but the fervency and 
constancy of his devotions have been 
attested, and that he respected his 
mother's early injunction never to for- 
get his private prayers. I have exam- 
ined the well-worn original, and have a 
copy of the volume in which are pub- 
lished in fac-similes of the handwriting 
prayers which it is claimed he origi- 
nated or compiled. We see the power 
of heredity and home influence further 
in that, among his books is that work 
called in the appraiser's list " Discus- 
sions upon Common Prayer,*' which is 



and the Book of Books 1 1 1 

now included in the collection of the 
Athenaeum. In it are inscribed auto- 
graphs of Augustine Washington, his 
father, and of his father's second wife, 
Mary Ball, his mother, and of " George 
Washington." Young Washington's re- 
peating here his mother's name in his 
own handwriting recalls his filial fidelity. 
Among countless proofs I find in a 
reprint of his journal of expenditures 
from October 24th to October 27th, 
1774, items as follows: ''Cloak for my 
mother, £10 2s. ; chaise for my mother, 
;^40." Such facts need to be reiter- 
ated, since recently he has been misrep- 
resented in this regard. Late in life he 
wrote to his brother John Augustine to 
make diligent inquiry and to spend the 
needed money to render his mother 
comfortable, adding that he would meet 
the charges. When she was eighty- 
one, and broken with age, Washington, 
who was always conscientious in visit- 
ing and caring for her, wrote her in a 
I letter enclosing money the reason why 
she would not be comfortable at Mount 
Vernon ; but that while the task might 
I prove dangerous to her health of at- 
J tempting to entertain so much company, 



1 1 2 TJlc FatJicr of Our Country 

and dressing often to receive them, and 
although he feared lest she might not 
find there the retirement she desired in 
her age, his home was ever at her ser- 
vice. Her testimony was that he ful- 
filled the commandment, '' Honor thy 
father and thy mother." He repaid 
the fidelity with which she had early 
taught him to " read, mark, learn, and 
inwardly digest" his Bible and Book of 
Common Prayer and works relating to 
Christian conduct. 

Quite near the volume of '' Discus- 
sions on Common Prayer " in the list of 
his books, we find sermons by a former 
Bishop of Exeter (London, 171 7), with 
an autograph of the boy George Wash- 
ington, and on the fly-leaf a note by G. 
C. Washington, stating that the '' auto- 
graph of George Washington's name is 
believed to be the earliest specimen of 
his handwriting, when he was proba- 
bly not more than eight or nine years 
old." A volume of sermons seems an 
unusual place for a boy's earliest known 
autograph ; but the appraiser's list 
shows a comparatively large propor- 
tion of books of a religious character in 
Washington's library. Looking at his 



and the Book of Books 



character from the religious point of 
view, there are those convinced that it 
was the Bible with the Prayer Book, and 
the use he made of them, that made 
him the man he was. Like all great 
works, the influence of the Bible lies in 
what it is, not in what is said about it. 
The most widely circulated volume in 
the world, called a book because so 
bound, it is in fact a literature, one which 
he absorbed and to which he conformed 
his life. Written by many writers, made 
up of many books, the Bible, time and 
again, apart from theories about it, has 
proved its inherent power. 

In a familiar letter one of his family 
circle refers to Washington's reverent 
use of the Bible. In writing further of 
the suitable character of his Sunday 
evening readings to his wife Martha, 
or, as she was then sometimes called, 
Lady Washington, he adds that on that 
day visitors Avere not received. No 
wonder that the Presbyterian General 
Assembly, in 1789, recorded their es- 
teem of him as an avowed *' friend of 
the Christian religion," and one '' who, 
in his private conduct, adorns the Gos- 
pel of Jesus Christ." Two collects in 



1 14 The Father of Our Country 

the Prayer-book, famed from of old, that 
for Quinquagesima Sunday and that for 
the fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, re- 
affirm the Christian ideal of noble char- 
acter comprised in three words, '' faith, 
hope, and charity." Long- considered 
characteristic of him, we proceed to find 
therein a summary of that excellence 
of Washington, making him a worthy 
Christian model — an excellence which 
could hardly have been so conspicu- 
ously his but for books, and the Book 
of Books, and his use of them. 

Amidst the stars which rise above the 
horizon of human life, none shine with 
a lovelier radiance than '' these three." 
Among those who illustrate this trin- 
ity of virtues, one, only, attains Divine 
perfection, dawning above the manger- 
cradle at Bethlehem, threatened with 
the darkness of Calvary, but rising and 
ascending '' far above all things, that He 
might fill all things," our Lord and 
Master. Of others who illustrate the 
virtues '' faith, hope, and charity," ren- 
dering as private citizens and in public 
life civic service to humanity, is not 
Washington ('' primus inter pares ") 
most admirable ? A Christian, he was 



ajid the Book of Books 1 1 5 

connected with the English Church in 
the Colonies, named, after the formation 
of the United States, the Protestant 
Episcopal Church. This is noted not 
as a matter of pride, to those who with 
similar privileges fall far short of his 
standard, but because so many of the 
statesmen of our heroic age were of 
the same communion : the Church not 
being papal nor despotic, not individu- 
alistic nor revolutionary, but constitu- 
tional, their consequent influence is seen 
in that greatest of gifts to the people, 
the Constitution of the United States. 

The Revolutionary war we hold to 
have been won, not only by patriotic 
soldiers of this and other lands, but be- 
cause of contending parties in the Brit- 
ish Parliament. Upon the declaration 
of peace, Washington declared that the 
people deserved contempt if they 
stopped at that, and pointed to the 
long and arduous path of duty which 
opened before them. In 1786 he wrote 
Jay : '' I do not conceive we can exist 
long as a nation without having lodged 
somewhere a power which will pervade 
the whole Union in as energetic a man- 
ner as the authority of the State govern- 



Ii6 TJie Father of Our Co2intry 

ments extends over the several States." 
Already had civil war loomed, and some 
demanded the dissolution of the Union ; 
secession was threatened ; submission 
to a foreign or a native king was pro- 
posed. Washington was sounded to see 
if he could be made a leader or tool of a 
monarchical movement. But he was too 
loyal and too well read to be tempted 
or duped. In doubt the Constitutional 
Convention met. Then as we have seen 
it proved that his library, with his use 
of it, was one of the pillars of his power. 
It was found wisest to keep the pro- 
ceedings secret. His prompt and fear- 
less reproof of carelessness as to memo- 
randa which threatened to divulge 
them at the very outset, produced a 
profound impression and showed him 
well fitted to preside and guide. We 
know from a patriot's diary and from 
patriot lips the inestimable services of 
one so well informed, and holding him- 
self and others so well in hand, and by 
his letters and views influencing the 
whole country. His habits of reading 
and reticence helped the framing of the 
Constitution. 

The learned prime minister pre-emi- 



and the Book of Books 1 1 7 



nent in our day, and like Washington a 
reverent student of the Bible and a lay 
reader, writes in '* Kin beyond the Sea:" 
'' The British Constitution is the most 
subtle organism which has proceeded 
from progressive history ; the American 
Constitution is the most wonderful work 
ever struck off at a given time by the 
brain and hand of man." If you prefer 
the evolutionary view of constitutional 
law, you may nevertheless join in pay- 
ing due tribute to the builders of the 
Constitution, and to the constitutional 
principles and the constitutional Church 
which were factors in moulding the 
mind of many a " maker and signer," 
and especially of Washington himself. 

A churchman, the question has been 
mooted : Was Washington a communi- 
cant ? Who thought of seriously disput- 
ing it in his lifetime ? His contempo- 
raries have passed away. It is evident 
that, as the people had to protest against 
taxation without representation, church- 
men had to complain that the Church 
was left without a bishop. They were 
less favored than now, with frequent 
sacramental and other services. Two or 
three witnesses suffice. He was seen '' to 



8 TJie FatJicr of Our Country 



partake of the sacrament of the Body 
and Blood of Christ in Trinity Parish, 
New York." Although Bishop White 
did not recall his communing, it is to be 
noted that a bishop's duties tend to pre- 
vent his invariable presence at the same 
church ; further, memor}^, especially in 
old age, is not infallible. Christ Church 
and St. Peter's, Philadelphia, are honor- 
ably famed for ceasing, upon the procla- 
mation of Independence, to use petitions 
of the English Church indicating al- 
legiance to that government. Yet one 
prominent in said parishes, as reported, 
demanded the abandonment of the 
armed contest with Great Britain. 
Could Washington wisely appear by 
communing to condone any asserted at- 
titude injurious to the cause? 

When at Mount Vernon with Mrs. 
Washington, one of the famil}^ an eye- 
witness, declared that he *' always re- 
ceived the sacrament." It is needless to 
go at length into these partially quoted 
instances, for we have Washington's 
word, and that is good always and every- 
where. At a distance from home, care- 
ful as he always was to show his respect 
publicly as well as privately both for 



and the Book of Books 1 1 9 

the Church of which he Avas a member 
and for the Christian principles and the 
usages of others, as the communion of 
the neighboring Presbyterian congrega- 
tion approached, he called upon the pas- 
tor, and speaking of himself as a '' com- 
municant," declared that he was anxious 
to embrace opportunities of communing, 
but was himself a member of the Church 
of England. In view of what being a 
church "member" meant as our lan- 
guage was used then and there, " mem- 
ber" suffices, together with his reference 
to being a communicant, to remove 
doubt, and to enable anyone affirmative- 
ly to close the above question. The evi- 
dence shows his custom of receiving the 
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in his 
own church and not elsewhere ; al- 
though he declared himself free from 
bigotry, and in spirit at least may, with 
those not of his own household of faith, 
have partaken of the Christian agape or 
feast of love. While sincerely and sen- 
sibly religious, he was not ostentatious, 
or unmindful of the duty of preserving 
his influence as a patriotic public man 
and leader, by all rightful means, among 
a mixed people in times of unusual bit- 



120 TJie Father of Our Country 



terness, suspicion, excitement, danger, 
and difficulty. 

One authority declares that '' a full 
half of respectable Americans were, 
either openly or secretly, hostile to the 
revolution;" and that "two -thirds of 
the property-owners of New York City 
were loyal to the King." So were de- 
scendants of William Penn. The Amer- 
ican patriot. Colonel Pickering, called 
Philadelphia " the enemy's country " — 
so was sentiment divided in other Col- 
onies, and later in the States. It has 
been well remarked further, that one 
could be a loyalist opposed to breaking 
loose from the mother-country, and jQt 
open in demanding reform in the admin- 
istration ; free to denounce the oppres- 
sive acts of the ministry. Revolution to 
such meant national destruction. What 
were the colonies matched against Great 
Britain ? Further, it is said that the 
Whig leaders were looked upon with 
distrust by the old regime, which had 
little confidence in "office-seekers " and 
" upstarts," and saw in their zeal "some- 
thing more sordid than patriotism." 
John Adams, in 1777, wrote: "I am 
wearied to death with the wrangle be- 



and the Book of Books 12 1 

tweeii military officers high and low. 
They quarrel like cats and dogs. They 
scramble for rank and pay like apes for 
nuts." And Washington wrote, to cite 
only one instance : " Many of the sur- 
geons are very great rascals . . . 
receiving bribes to certify indispositions 
. . . drawing medicines and stores 
. . . for private purposes." Even the 
Quakers were accused of making their 
religion a cloak for '' Toryism." And 
the Methodists were " urged by Charles 
Wesley to stand by the King, and many 
of them did so." Again, '' the forcible 
silencing of prayers for the King in the 
service of the Episcopal Church — the 
free use of tar and feathers — and the 
lash," led many to become all the stout- 
er Tories ; and offensively it has been 
claimed that the clergy, " stipendiaries 
of the English Church, were loyalists al- 
most to a man." 

Thus the English Church, like all 
things English, came in the heat of our 
war to be distrusted by many ; and 
after it, our Church suffered from con- 
tinued misconception. Piloting the ship 
of state in dangerous seas, Washington 
was judicious. As a statesman he 



122 TJie FatJier of Our Country 

rightly conciliated all influences. He 
obtained and held the confidence of the 
various religious bodies and leading 
ministers. From his diary it is found 
that, on succeeding Sundays in Phila- 
delphia, he went three times to the 
Episcopal service, once to the Roman 
Catholic, once to the Quaker, once to 
the Presbyterian ; and as to the conver- 
sation with the Presbyterian pastor, in 
which he refers to himself as a com- 
municant of our Church, the facts are 
narrated in Hosack's *' Life of Clinton." 
Washington was no bigot, no extremist 
in pietism like Philip of Spain, for in- 
stance ; but while consistent as a Chris- 
tian man and a churchman, was not 
*' overmuch " given to things not in the 
immediate line of his public duty. His 
religion was eminently of the right kind 
for a man of affairs under his circum- 
stances. When he opposed importa- 
tions tending to intemperance, and hab- 
its tending to profanity and general im- 
morality, he appealed to manliness and 
patriotism ; when by official order he 
declared against gambling in the army 
as demoralizing to the soldiers and the 
cause of many a gallant officer's ruin. 



and the Book of Books 123 

he did not leave men in camp without 
occupation, but among other matters 
of interest, saw to it, as there was a 
chaplain for each regiment, that the 
men were encouraged to be regular in 
attending Divine service. For himself, 
he acted as one Avho knew that exam- 
ple speaks louder than words ; that faith 
without works is dead. 

The valid incidents within reach 
proving him a " man of faith," are too 
numerous to be recalled here. The 
Commander-in-Chief of the American 
armies was observed elsewhere, as well 
as at Valley Forge, so that it is well 
known that he sought " strength and 
guidance from the God of armies and 
of light. The independence of our 
country was laid not only in valor, and 
patriotism, and wisdom, but in prayer." 
During the war he not infrequently 
rode ten or twelve miles from camp to 
Divine service. The rector of the Po- 
hick Church, of which Washington was 
*' an active vestryman," said : '' I never 
knew so constant an attendant on 
church, and his behavior in the house 
of God was ever so deeply reveren- 
tial, that it produced the happiest 



124 ^/^^^ Father of Our Country 

effect on my congregation." Unos- 
tentatious, Washington, " with sincere 
humihty, discharged with regularity 
and fervor his religious duties." As 
every school-boy used to hear, and 
should now know, Colonel Temple, of 
Virginia, after the French and Indian 
war, said that on sudden and unex- 
pected visits to his marquee, he has 
more than once found him on his knees 
at his devotions. Robert Lew^is, his 
nephew and private secretary, is time 
and again quoted as sayin'g of Wash- 
ington's " daily practice," that acci- 
dentally he witnessed " Washington's 
private devotions in his library both 
morning and evening," and adds, " I 
saw him in a kneeling posture, with a 
Bible open before him." 

An instance added of late, is that 
from the household where he is still re- 
called by family tradition just before 
the critical engagement on the battle- 
field of Chatterton Hill. In prayer he 
*' wrestled " with the God of battles, as 
was his wont. Had he not said, " I feel 
everything which wounds the sensi- 
bility of a gentleman?" On this occa- 
sion, his loyal heart, stung with the 



and the Book of Books 125 



epithet " rebel" hurled at patriots, was, 
at the family altar poured out in the 
language of the very '' Bible hero with- 
out a flaw" he is said to resemble. His 
words were those of the 22d verse of 
chapter xxii. of the book of Joshua: 
*' The Lord, God of Gods, He knoweth, 
and Israel, he shall know if it be in re- 
bellion or if in transgression against the 
Lord." In dreadful exigencies his in- 
stinctive attitude is expressed in the 
Avords my " faith looks up to Thee." 

" Hope " with anchor fixed within the 
veil, rests on faith. Washington was 
pre-eminently a man of hope. Often it 
was about all he and his men had to 
subsist on, as when he wrote of his half- 
clad, unpaid, starving troops, '' from my 
soul I pity them." Further, he wrote, 
December 23, 1777, to the President of 
Congress, when Christmas eve was 
close at hand and life for his patriotic 
troops cold and dreary, that it was 
easy for critics, comfortable in the glow 
of their warm firesides to denounce of- 
ficers and men for lack of victories in a 
winter campaign, with overwhelming 
odds against them. The fall of Ticon- 
deroga, the winter at Valley Forge, the 



126 TJie FatJier of Our Country 

difficulties everywhere increasing, led 
him to endure misrepresentation and 
obloquy rather than to clear himself by 
stating facts of the army's forlorn con- 
dition, which, if made known, might 
have ruined the cause. 

In many portraits do not the lines of 
his face indicate the difficult suppres- 
sion of passion ? Strongest in his youth, 
in maturity and age breaking out under 
provocation, I am further asked if he 
did not use strong language. What if 
he did under the circumstances? When 
as a boy I was resident in South America 
and a guest in a monastery, I noted the 
expletives, exclamatory and denuncia- 
tory — profane swearing to my ears, but 
in their usage including the tremendous 
outbursts of an archbishop, sacred ejac- 
ulations. The usages of English speech 
in Washington's day, too, differed wide- 
ly from our own in the standard of good 
form and religious custom; but however 
prevalent in the British army, and among 
people of *' fashion " abroad, swearing 
was bad form in Virginia ; his own 
usage and published pronouncements 
against profanity, prove that he was no 
apologist for, and gave no countenance 



and the Book of Books 127 

to, profane and pernicious habits then 
prevalent. 

As Washington not only read but 
wrote of morality, it is evident that he 
practised it despite the promptings of 
nature. Let those who will, attribute 
the result solely to his all-absorbing en- 
gagements, the fact of his moral excel- 
lence can no longer be rightfully de- 
nied. Bancroft declared that he had 
examined such accusations as there 
were against Washington's character, 
and found them unfounded ; Lodge and 
others concur. Dr. Toner, one of the 
highest authorities, especially as to 
Washington's manuscripts, defying any- 
one to prove base charges against 
Washington, declares them worthless ; 
and adds that they have sprung from 
the tendency of debased natures to 
judge that what they would do another 
would have done under similar circum- 
1 stances; concluding that to "prove any- 
I thing against Washington's character 
i there is no proof," and that '' not a false 
line did he pen nor do a deed to destroy 
the reputation of a great and good 
man." But if ever a man was so cir- 
cumstanced as to need words explosive 



128 The Father of Our Country 

as dynamite to keep his heart from 
bursting when oppressed by outrage, 
want, misrepresentation, disloyalty, it 
was the great-hearted Washington. 

Righteous rage with which he heard 
of defeat and death caused by disobe- 
dience of orders, was suppressed not 
only in public, but so that justice was 
tempered with mercy to the offender. 
Hoping all things, he worked as well 
as hoped for the best ; and while mis- 
represented at home he was appreci- 
ated abroad. Not only was he a great 
general, a great writer, but a great 
peace - maker. Peaceful, his reading 
taught him, as the books in his library 
indicate, that the country, if at peace 
and united, might indulge the highest 
hopes for its sound and rapid develop- 
ment. Fortunately for his country, and 
in the darkest hours, his was a heart 
greatly hopeful. It was Christian 
" hope " which his beloved mother had 
planted there in a Christian home. 
And though he wrote to her as '' Ma- 
dame," after the courtly manners of the 
day, even as to his mother Jesus said, 
"7wat," she was always mother to him, 
not simply to the boy George, but to 



and iiie Book of Books 129 



the general ; as when an officer brought 
a requisition for her carriage horses, 
and she said no; and told him to tell 
the general so, and that it was his 
mother who refused ; then Washington, 
with that boyhood smile of his which 
survived his youth, acquiescent, bowed 
his head. Later, when wants were 
weightiest, his hopeful spirit rose in 
proportion to the obstacles to be sur- 
mounted ; and after the war, in all the 
trials of foreign or domestic affairs 
which followed, he " hoped against 
hope," with the patience of hope, the 
courage of hope, and the Christian 
hope '* which maketh not ashamed." 

'' Faith, hope, charity, the greatest of 
these is charity ;" so great that there is 
no word great enough for it in our lan- 
guage, in any language ; since God is 
love, and charity is love. But as popu- 
larly used, one of its large meanings is 
tolerance ; and the tolerance that comes, 
not from indifference, but from culture 
and Christianity. Like Franklin and 
some other great American statesmen, 
Washington, although not a university 
man, not a college man, was a reading 
man, a reflecting man, and so a growing 



130 TJic FatJicr of Our Country 

man, intellectually as well as every other 
way. He had the common-school edu- 
cation of the day and some engineering 
and surveying, but he made mental and 
other notes on what he saw and heard 
and read. In military and other matters 
he early began in that most excellent 
school, the school of experience ; and 
ultimately great generals of Europe 
praised his campaigns. 

Just here note that he not only stuck 
to good principles, cultivated good man- 
ners, but he wrote a good hand, one 
easily legible. Those of us who have 
tried the patience of others by illegi- 
bility ; those of us who constantly re- 
ceive epistles (although typewriting is 
so accessible) undecipherable even to the 
signatures without the aid of a clergy 
list, or some other compendium ; un- 
sought communications which having 
thereby used valuable time, prove as to 
their contents an enigma, and in scrawls 
fit to be called nightmare hieroglyphics, 
and from applicants Avho want something 
and want it right away, but without due 
claims upon us, write in such a hurry that 
a commission of pundits could hardly de- 
cipher their meaning ; with such time 



and the Book of Books 131 

wasting, temper-trying experiences, one 
will put it to the credit of George Wash- 
ington that, charitable enough in other 
things, he was conscientious enough, in 
using other books, not to neglect his 
''copy-book," and considerate enough 
to write a good hand. I have seen his 
written regulations for copyists of gov- 
ernment records, and the direction to 
employ only those " who write a fair 
hand, that there may be similarity and 
beauty in the whole execution." 

In minute and important regards, 
then, Washington, from the influence of 
books, came to be a cultured Christian. 
Some Christian people are strong 
enough in faith and hope, but weak or 
bigoted when it comes to true toler- 
ance. Often their lack of large views 
is due to their restricted reading habits. 
But when foreign diplomats, during the 
war and after it, came to deal with 
Washington, they found, as the politi- 
cians of his own land found, that they 
were dealing not only with a clear- 
sighted but with a cultured man. Well 
for that and for all times Avas it, that he 
was a man imbued with Christian char- 
ity, that is, one tolerant to the very point 



132 TJie Father of Our Country 



where tolerance ceases to be a virtue. 
That he had hospitality of mind as well 
as a well-stocked and wisely-used library, 
is further shown by the number of sub- 
jects on which he possessed sound in- 
formation, as seen in his correspondence 
with overseers and friends and men in 
public life, and in his state papers. 

Had he not only hospitality of head 
and heart, but charity in the ordinary 
sense of the term ? While others leave 
their homes and make little or no pro- 
vision for the customary claims of char- 
ity, some acting as if they wished to 
escape them, he provided for them gen- 
erously with money and by explicit di- 
rections to his agent, and wrote him in 
1775 that the hospitality of the house 
must be so maintained that the poor 
should not suffer from his absence. 
" You must consider that neither mvself 
nor my wife is now in the way to do 
these good offices. In all other respects 
I recommend to you, and have no doubt 
of your observing, the greatest economy 
and frugality, as I suppose you know 
that I do not get a farthing for my ser- 
vices here, more than my expenses. It 
becomes necessary, therefore, for me to 



and the Book of Books 133 



be saving at home." Among- his other 
charities, his aid by gift and bequest to 
educational institutions, as already said, 
was remarkable for that time, and an ex- 
ample to all times. 

In examining many of his press-copy 
manuscript letters (1792-99), I find not 
only instances of the above, as in the 
reference to Annapolis College, but the 
letter to Dr. Baysham as to the threat- 
ened blindness of his servant ; allusions 
to the forged letters ; statement of his 
political creed ; affectionate references 
to the marriage of Miss Custis. These 
letters and others, such as those as to 
land projects and business, have pas- 
sages suggestive of his heart as well as 
his head. How kindly he writes the 
author, who sends him the new "■ Co- 
lumbian Alphabet ; " thanking him and 
adding that, '' while it would take time 
to introduce it, if introduced it might 
be of use." Again, how courteous his 
letter to General Heath, dated Mount 
Vernon, March i, 1799, thanking him — 
and in advance, as is sometimes judici- 
ous when an author sends us his produc- 
tions — for his book entitled *' Memoirs 
of the American War " " which," writes 



134 riic Father of Our Country 

Washington, '' I accept and daresay 
beforehand I shall read it with pleas- 
ure; . . . meantime I pray you to 
accept my best thanks for this testi- 
mony of your friendship and politeness 
in sending me the work so elegantly 
bound." 

Thus does the generosity of Washing- 
ton's nature irradiate his correspond- 
ence, and his love of books frequently 
appear. Further, in his charities he was 
a ''cheerful giver," and writes, " I will 
direct my manager to pay my annual 
donation for the education of orphan 
children, or the children of indigent 
parents who are unable to be at the ex- 
pense themselves. I had pleasure in 
appropriating this money to such uses, 
as I always shall have in paying it." 
He wrote to Bishop White, in 1794, " I 
am at a loss for whose benefit to apply 
the little I can give, and in whose hands 
to place it ; whether for the use of the 
fatherless children and widows, made 
so by the late calamity, who may find it 
difficult, whilst provisions, wood, and 
other necessaries are so dear, to sup- 
port themselves ; or to other and better 
purposes, if any, I know not, and there- 



and the Book of Books 135 



fore have taken the liberty of asking 
your advice." 

He ardently loved children and was 
demonstrative toward them ; and late 
in life, when he found the greatness 
thrust upon him embarrassing, and too 
awe-inspiring, he was saddened by its 
effects, as many another Great Heart has 
been. Thus, when entering a merry- 
making of young people, at his com- 
ing mirth seemed extinguished and si- 
lence reigned ; then, as he courteously 
retired, he showed to those in attend- 
ance his regret that his reputation had 
become so overshadowing. He took 
every suitable occasion to show the 
sympathy for young and old which, as 
many anecdotes prove, he deeply felt. 

He saw the importance of adminis- 
tering charities so as not to create de- 
pendence ; and even in dealing with 
near connection she showed his desire 
to inspire self-help, and his conviction 
that all should be trained to be usefully 
industrious. In 1796, he wrote: " Mrs. 
H. should do what she can for herself. 
This is the duty of everyone. But 
you must not let her suffer, as she 
has thrown herself upon me. Your ad- 



6 The Fathei' of Our Country 



vances on this account will be allowed 
always at settlement. I agree readily to 
furnish her with provisions ; and from 
the good character you give of her 
daughter, make the latter a present, in 
my name, of a handsome but not costly 
gown, and other things which she may 
stand most in need of. You may 
charge me also with the worth of your 
tenement in which she is placed, and 
where, perhaps, it is better she should 
be, than at a greater distance from your 
attentions to her." In 1795, he wrote: 
" T am sorry to hear of the death of 
Mrs. H. ; and will very cheerfully re- 
ceive her daughter, the moment I get 
settled at this place ; sooner, it would 
not be possible, because this house will 
be, as it has been, empty, from the time 
we shall quit it in October, until my 
final establishment in the spring. Such 
necessaries as she needs in the mean- 
time may, however, be furnished at my 
expense ; and if it is inconvenient for 
you to retain her in your own house, 
let her be boarded in some respectable 
family, where her morals and good be- 
haviour will be attended to ; at my ex- 
pense also. Let her want for nothing 



and the Book of Books 13 



i/ 



that is decent or proper ; and if she 
remains in your family, I wish for the 
girl's sake, as well as for the use she may 
be to your aunt, when she comes here, 
that Mrs. would keep her industri- 
ously employed always, and instructed 
in the care and economy of housekeep- 
ing." Further, he wrote again as fol- 
lows : " Enclosed is a letter for S. H., 
left open for your perusal before it is 
forwarded to her ; with the contents of 
Avhich, respecting the payment of ten 
pounds, I request you to comply, and 
charge the same to the account of your 
collection of my rents." In another 
connection he wrote : " It has alwa3^s 
been my intention, since my expecta- 
tion of having issue has ceased, to con- 
sider the grandchildren of my wife in 
the same light as I do my own relations, 
and to act a friendly part by them, 
more especially by the two whom we 
have raised from their earliest infancy!" 
Further he wrote : " Mrs. Washington's 
ideas coincide with my own, as to sim- 
plicity of dress, and everything which 
can tend to support propriety of char- 
acter, without partaking of luxury and 
ostentation." 



138 TJic Father of Our Country 

Charitable in the best sense of the 
term, children loved him, and his family 
and neighbors, his soldiers and asso- 
ciates. When he left Mount Vernon for 
his public duties, high and low sur- 
rounded him with expressions of honor 
and love, which history will not let die. 
As shown in these and other instances, 
he united with his benefactions that 
personal interest on which the Gospel 
insists, and which Tolstoi, among other 
writers of genius, so vividly portra3'S as 
the essence of Christian charity. Thus 
was it when Washington remembered 
Alexandria, where his first vote was cast 
in 1754, and his last not long before his 
death in 1799, and where he had so many 
friendly ties. The bequest made for 
Alexandria reads : " To educate orphan 
children, with children of such poor and 
indigent persons as are unable to ac- 
complish it with their own means." 

The fragrance of the loyal love he 
bore his mother exhales again, as the 
visitor in the ever-growing annual pil- 
grimage to Mount Vernon receives, 
among flowers still raised from his seed- 
lings, the delicate tea-rose he named 
*' the Mary Washington." In the same 



and the Book of Books 1 39 

loving spirit, hearing of his ward's fatal 
illness, he arrived at the bedside of his 
wife's son by her former marriage, so- 
licitous as though he were his own, 
'' just in time," as he wrote Lafayette, 
^' to see poor Mr. Custis breathe his last." 
Turning at once to the bereaved wid- 
ow, whose two younger children were 
little more than infants, Washington ex- 
claimed: '' From this hour I adopt your 
two younger children as my own." So 
tender was his care that they never felt 
the bitterness of that early loss. When 
consulted, as he was by all sorts and 
conditions of men, and even about love 
affairs, he was as sympathetic as he 
was judicious. In relation to the en- 
gagement years before of the near con- 
nection just referred to, he wrote: 
'' How far a union of this sort may be 
agreeable to you, you best can tell ; but 
I should think myself wanting candor, 
were I not to confess that Miss Nelly's 
amiable qualities are acknowledged on 
all hands, and that an alliance with your 
family will be pleasing to his. This ac- 
knowledgment being made, you must 
permit me to add, sir, that at this, or in 
any short time, his youth, inexperience, 



140 TJie Father of Our Coiuitry 

and unripened education are, and will 
be, insuperable obstacles in my opinion 
to the completion of the marriage. As 
his guardian, I conceive it my indispen- 
sable duty to endeavor to carry him 
through a regular course of education 
(many branches of which, I am sorry to 
say, he is totally deficient in), and to 
guide his youth to a more advanced age 
before an event, on which his own peace 
and the happiness of another are to de- 
pend, takes place. ... If the affec- 
tion which they have avowed for each 
other is fixed upon a solid basis, it will 
receive no diminution in the course of 
two or three years ; in which time he 
may prosecute his studies, and thereby 
render himself more deserving of the 
lady, and useful to society. If, unfort- 
unately, as they are both young, there 
should be an abatement of affection on 
either side, or both, it had better pre- 
cede than follow marriage." 

Was he not a true friend ? His well- 
known friendship with Robert Morris 
had its suitable expression. In con- 
verse, however, with natures of a differ- 
ent type his tone is demonstrative ; to- 
ward Lafayette, so loving as to accord 



and the Book of Books 



with a Frenchman's sentiment, and the 
ardent manifestations of his friend's 
loyal and loving heart. Guizot calls 
this a " truly paternal affection, the ten- 
derest" which Washington evinced. 
But the modest Washington's early 
fiame of love (" chaste " is his own char- 
acterization of it), though full of warmth 
and sentiment, failed where a bolder 
suitor won. Victory for self was not 
his strong point ; his was not the style 
of our self-seeking, over-bold nineteenth 
century. What a blessing that he 
waited and won the wife he did ! What 
a Providence, that, a childless man, the 
country was not cursed (while tradi- 
tions of royalty and primogeniture 
were still strong) with a " rabble of 
bloods " of his by direct descent, and 
readv to reintroduce '' the right of kings 
to rule wrongly." 

Welcoming his friends to his home, 
Washington wrote : '' It is my wish that 
the mutual friendships Avhich have been 
planted and fostered in the tumult of 
public life may not wither and die in 
the shelter of retirement ; we should 
rather use the evening hours of life to 
cultivate the tender plants and bring 



142 The Father of Our Country 

them to perfection, before they are 
transplanted to a happier clime." He 
cultivated his estate for the enjoyment 
of his family circle and his friends and 
neighbors, as well as for his own occu- 
pation, health, and pleasure. Walks, 
drives, vistas, plantations of trees, the 
sowing of crops, the shrubbery, the 
flower garden, the conservatory, the 
plans for his ample domain — these also 
sprang not only from his head, but from 
his heart. 

As " face answereth to face in a glass," 
does not Washington's character cor- 
respond to the inspired portrayal of 
charity ? " Charity suffereth long 
and is kind ; charity envieth not ; char- 
ity vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up; 
doth not behave itself unseemly ; seek- 
eth not her own ; is not easily pro- 
voked ; thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not 
in iniquity ; but rejoiceth in the truth ; 
beareth all things ; believeth all things ; 
hopeth all things." As '' charity never 
faileth," Washington's included a lar- 
ger area than his own immediate inter- 
ests and those even of his country. 
*' Humanity, fraternity," these Avere 
frequent words with him, as when in 



and the Book of Books 143 

1785, he wrote of his faith and hope 
that the future *' would see the whole 
world in peace and its inhabitants one 
band of brothers." In 1791 he com- 
mended loving efforts, as he expressly 
said, to ''strengthen the Fraternity of 
the Human race." And as late as 1797, 
he declared that he was deeply solici- 
tous *' for universal harmony and broth- 
erly love ; " and also for Christian and 
Church unity, "believing as I do that 
religion and morality are the essential 
pillars of civil society." The responsive 
echoes which came from all parts of the 
globe were devoutly voiced by Lord Er- 
skine, who wrote him : " I have a large 
acquaintance with the most valued and 
exalted class of men, but you are the 
only human being for whom I ever felt 
an awful reverence. I sincerely pray 
God to grant a long and serene evening 
to a life so gloriously devoted to the 
universal happiness of the world." 



Ipart jfourtb 



? 



AT THE LAST, IN HIS LIBRARY 

As the nineteenth century dawned 
Washington was to be found in his li- 
brary. His book-room, it was also the 
centre of the activities and the mem- 
ories of his life. The winter came, and 
at last he was undisturbed by calls to a 
distance from home. In Washington's 
old age his aim was to read in peace, re- 
view his journals, dictate, write, arrange 
his papers, and to give healthful and 
helpful attention to his residence and 

. domain. Rising early and proceeding 
systematically, he had time not only for 
books, but also to meet the demands of 
the neighborhood and related duties, 
and the claims of hospitality, which in- 

\ creased with his fame. He had finished 
in his own clear hand an extended docu- 
ment, giving directions for the manage- 
ment of his estate. His will was made 
and properly placed. Its provisions, and 

ii especially those relating to his books 



148 At tJie Last, in His Library 

and papers, are so drawn as to suggest 
that he presumed that they would re- 
main at Mount Vernon. We have seen 
him planning, erecting, filling, and using 
his library. Since he w^as contemplating 
safe provision there, especially for war 
records, would that his books at least, 
in suitable lire-proof incasement, had 
been preserved sacred and intact there. 
How, why, were the contents of his 
library scattered by his heirs ? Part of 
them by needless gifts, seemingly pro- 
miscuous, part by well-advised sales of 
matter, principally manuscript, to the na- 
tion. In the general dispersion, sales to 
individuals also played a considerable 
part, and one perhaps unavoidable when 
the owners were in want of money, in a 
country which finds it wisest to avoid 
grants for the maintenance of collateral 
connections or direct descendants of the 
servants or saviours of the State. The 
will of Washington, written in his own 
handwriting, belongs to the Fairfax 
County Court. Having passed through 
many vicissitudes, it may now be seen 
there in the case in which it was depos- 
ited consequent upon the following or- 
der of the court, in 1865 : " It appearing to 



At the Last, in His Library 149 

the Court that the original will of General 
George Washington, of Mount V^ernon, 
has been much worn and mutilated from 
frequent handling, and that it is liable to 
further injury from the same cause, it is 
ordered that the clerk of this Court pur- 
chase, at the expense of the county, a 
suitable case, in which he is directed to 
deposit the said will." 

Under the said will his library passed, 
with certain specified exceptions, to 
Judge Bushrod Washington. There- 
after, although its contents were far 
from intact, the Judge left part to his 
i nephew, Hon. G. C. Washington, from 
whom Congress purchased a consider- 
able portion. Further, the Judge's will 
reads, " the books in the cases in the 
dining-room I give to my nephew, John 
Augustine Washington." It was from 
this portion that the sale was made of 
the collection referred to at the outset. 
It was purchased by Mr. Henry Stevens, 
with an ultimate view, seemingly, to its 
being placed in the British Museum. 
Our gratitude is due to the public spirit 
which secured it for the Boston Athe- 
naeum, and so prevented its passing be- 
yond reach. It was sad, after the great 



150 At the Last, in His Library 

Centennial at Philadelphia, to learn that 
the collection of books once Washing- 
ton's, which many were interested in 
seeing there, was soon dispersed by 
sales to different parties. Some of the 
books thus scattered were, years before, 
probably bought by Washington him- 
self in that very city and in adjoining 
places, one of whose noted libraries the 
collection might have adorned. At the 
sale of Washingtoniana in Philadelphia, 
in 1890, a number of articles were pur- 
chased by the regents of Mount Vernon, 
including volumes inscribed with auto- 
graphs of Washington, his mother, and 
other members of the family, which have 
in this manner found their way back to 
the old home. 

In tracing his books to places where 
they may now be seen, you may be in- 
terested also in knowing the where- 
abouts of other objects closely connect- 
ed with Washington and his times. Of 
such places and collections I vividly 
remember not only Mount Vernon, 
but, as a boy, Independence Hall in 
Philadelphia and its relics, including 
the Liberty Bell. Among Washington's 
head-quarters, that at Morristown, N. J., 



A/ the Last, in His Library 151 

impresses one agreeably, not only be- 
cause of its architecture, but from its 
contents ; that at Cambridge, Mass., a 
fine old colonial mansion adds to its 
associations with Washington the fact 
that Longfellow, whose home it be- 
came, wrote of it, among other lines, 
the following : 

" Once, ah, once within these walls 
One whom memory oft recalls, 
The Father of his country, dwelt. 

Up and down these echoing stairs, 
Heavy with the weight of cares, 
Sounded his majestic tread." 

In Easton, Pa., where the room oc- 
cupied by Washington is shown, re- 
side members of the Wampole family. 
From the Wampole farm and house of 
Revolutionary fame, where Washing- 
ton's officers resided before occupy- 
ing the head-quarters at Valley Forge, 
some twenty miles distant, I have in 
my collection articles used by him 
and his associates. Frederick Wam- 
pole, and his son Frederick, great 
grandfather and grandfather of my cor- 
respondent, Josephine Wampole, were 
i resident there at the time when Wash- 



152 At iJic Last, ill His Library 



ington's troops encamped on their farm, 
appropriating part of the house. Wash- 
ington used the parlor as his head-quar- 
ters. Her statements and her mother's 
recollections are reliable and definite. 

Of china and other articles procured 
from them years since, she now writes, 
" the fine china vases you bought of 
me stood on the shelf in the parlor at 
the time Washington occupied it; the 
two pieces of flint he used to kindle the 
fire, they were left on the deep window- 
sill, where he was accustomed to take 
his breakfast only ; for rations were 
short. The little dark -blue cup w^as 
used by him at the time, also the square 
decanter and little German glass." For 
years school - children were annuall}^ 
taken to this historic place, and the 
old, old story of Washington's patriot- 
ism told them. Some twenty miles dis- 
tant still stands what is known as the 
Washington Head - quarters at Valley 
Forge. I have been hospitably received 
also at other places with historic asso- 
ciations, and among Southern homes at 
the house, near Yorktown, where were 
signed the articles of capitulation at the 
close of the Revolutionary war. 



Af tJic Last, ill His Library 153 



At the Capitol and elsewhere in Wash- 
ington City, as in many of the States at 
their capitols, and in other accessible 
places, and not infrequently in private 
ownership, are valuable collections of 
Washingtoniana. You may kneel in the 
churches where he worshipped ; read 
his Bible and Prayer-Book and other 
books of his library ; walk in the paths 
he trod ; stand in the courts of law and 
legislation he frequented, and upon his 
battle-fields; and be admitted to his 
Executive Mansion. To keep him in 
honorable memory, worthy to be in 
every household, are books such as 
" Washington Day by Day," " Maxims 
of Washington," and others to which 
1 am also indebted, such as those by 
Marshall, Sparks, Irving, Everett, Fiske, 
Lodge, and man}^ works also to be found 
readily in bibliographies or libraries. 

Worthy of grateful and widespread 
recognition is the request below of one 
whose attention has been given to the 
manuscripts of Washington and to the 
dispersion of his library, and especially 
to the present locality of his papers, as 
may be seen by consulting the proceed- 
ings (1892) of the American Historical 



154 ^'^^ tJ^^^ Last, 1)1 His Library 

Society. I have been permitted to ex- 
amine Washingtoniana in his residence, 
before their absorption into the collec- 
tion, which I have also visited, in the 
Congressional Library. Dr. J. M. Toner, 
the author, their owner, has published 
the following request: ''To the end of 
forming a national depository of Wash- 
ington's writings, which aims to assem- 
ble and preserve literal copies of every- 
thing he ever wrote, to be open and 
accessible to all students, the writer 
solicits from the owners of such the 
favor of accurate copies of any original 
paper written by General Washington, 
to be deposited in the Toner Collection 
in the Library of Congress." In a fut- 
ure publication I hope to give further 
suggestions and excerpts, with authori- 
ties in full and added facts excluded by 
lack of time and space from this lecture, 
but just here, renewing my thanks to 
Mr. Philip L. Smith and others, and to 
Dr. Toner, let me say in reply to an 
inquiry that Dr. Toner, by '' paper writ- 
ten by General Washington," intends 
anything written by Washington at 
any time. And without any prefix or 
title, by Washington I herein designate 



At the Last, in His Library 155 



the one supremely celebrated by that 
name. 

Here we recall, to refute it, the rumor 
sneeringly circulated not long ago, to 
the effect that Washington was not a 
reading man, nor one who cared for 
books, because in the invoices of his im- 
portations examined there were enu- 
merated articles for his plantation, such 
as hardware and farm implements, to- 
gether with useful articles for his house 
and family, goods of various kinds 
rather than volumes for his library ; so 
that, however much of a farmer or miller 
(the Mount Vernon brand of flour was 
noted), or successful on the field of Mars 
by favoring circumstances, he cared 
little or nothing for books. The false- 
hood of the insinuation is seen when we 
recall the fact that the encouragement 
of home trade during the Revolution 
and refusal to use British goods were 
marks of patriotism, and that the books 
he sought were in the English tongue. 
Further, the importations of books from 
abroad became unnecessary when pre- 
sentation copies and other literature 
were sent him without his intervention. 
The shallowness of the falsehood is 



156 At the Last, in His Library 



shown, too, by his accounts and journals 
already referred to, which, Avithout al- 
ways giving the title of the book, suffi- 
ciently indicate that he frequently pur- 
chased books from dealers in this 
country at least, seeking information 
the more as his interests and duties be- 
came more manifold. As Lodge inci- 
dentally remarks : '' The idea sometimes 
put forward that Washington cared 
nothing for reading or books is an idle 
one. He read at Greenway Court and 
everywhere else, when he had a chance, 
and he read well and to some purpose, 
studying men and events in books as he 
did in the world ; and though he never 
talked of his reading, preserving silence 
on that as on other things concerning 
himself, no one was ever able to record 
an instance in which he showed himself 
ignorant of history or literature." 

This is the more noticeable since he 
had never crossed the ocean nor en- 
joyed the advantages of study abroad, 
and since, even in his day and colony, 
intolerance, the unmistakable offspring 
of defective education and dwarfed cult- 
ure, prevailed. Church-going was not 
made attractive by being compulsory, 



At tJie Last, in His Library 157 

but by pleasant picnicking in Virginia 
parishes under the greenwood tree, be- 
tween services. In Falmouth one who 
denied the Bible or sacraments had, by 
way of argument in support of ortho- 
doxy, to run the lashing gauntlet of 
one hundred men : the hot iron bored 
through the tongue prevented the wil- 
fully persistent from wagging it against 
the faith of the so-called faithful. The 
parson was sometimes the school-teach- 
er also, although in some instances dis- 
tinguished chiefly for immorality and 
ignorance. As payments were made 
I in tobacco, happy the parson with a 
I *' sweet tobacco " parish ! Some con- 
j tended that the act of toleration did not 
i extend to Virginia. That Washington's 
tolerance in later life was not dictated 
merely by prudence, but was charac- 
teristic, is shown by his courage as a 
young officer, when contributing to the 
success of the military matters intrust- 
ed to him, he yet abstained from fulfill- 
ing Governor Dinwiddle's directions to 
" lash the Quakers until they consent to 
build forts." 

Education fared about as badly as tol- 
\ eration for a time. Governor Berkeley, 



158 At the Last, in His Library 

during the seventeenth century, wrote : 
" I thank God there are no free schools 
or printing in Virginia, and I hope we 
shall not have them these hundred years, 
for learning has brought disobedience 
and heresy and sects into the world, and 
printing has divulged them and libels 
on the best governments. God keep us 
from both." But, strange as it seems, 
then and there, necessity the mother of 
invention brought to the fore the "gen- 
tler sex," still so-called in the nineteenth, 
even if in the twentieth century the 
males are to be known finally as the 
" gentler." Early recognized in Italy 
and at Bologna, whence hailed Por- 
tia feigning the familiar character of 
a female Doctor of the Law, in early 
Virginia such was the sex of many a 
Doctor of Medicine. Ladies, widows, 
and others obliged to support them- 
selves, and having had experience in 
'' doctoring" on the plantations, became 
recognized medical practitioners. Mrs. 
Livingston was the physician of Fred- 
ericksburg, and the only one there ; the 
vestry of St. George's Church paid her 
fees for attending the poor of the par- 
ish, and, like Mrs. Dr. Fleming, people 



At the Last, in His Library 159 

of quality also eagerly sought her ser- 
vices. 

In the schools co-education early ap- 
peared in the attendance of both sexes, 
but the gentry had instruction for their 
daughters at home, and sought to edu- 
cate their sons abroad. A society freer 
from marital scandal, it is said, it would 
be hard to instance. Washington's 
morality was inbred. There in those 
times, it is said that '' everybody mar- 
ried — the men again and again." One 
of Washington's brothers married five 
times, and was under fifty when he died. 
The courtesies of social life, enforced by 
a strict ethical code and by the duello, 
had a rare freedom and a charm which 
still lingers. Visiting Williamsburg and 
the beautiful white marble tomb of a 
family connection, Lieutenant-Governor 
Nott, of colonial days, I learned interest- 
ing facts and forms of '' primitive courte- 
j sie." That first incorporated town of 
Virginia, from 1632 the seat of the col- 
ony until the Revolution, and thereafter 
the capital of the State until 1799, has, 
notwithstanding the battle fought there 
by General McClellan in his retreat, 
many interesting remains of its former 



i6o At>^W{^^}Lasf^ in His Library 



greatness, chief among them William 
and Mary's College. Following its 
foundation in the seventeenth century, 
a better day dawned for education, and 
better elementary schools sprang up. 

In 1736 a bright newspaper *' was 
founded in Williamsburg, and here there 
was also a good theatre in which Shake- 
speare's plays were acted ; " and in the 
same year was established the Eaton 
Free School in Elizabeth County, edu- 
cation being made compulsory in Vir- 
ginia twelve years later. It was enacted 
that where children suffered from pov- 
erty or neglect, they should be taught 
the rudiments of learning and a trade. 
The Potomac was {iroTaixos:) THE river : 
but on the James, too, and elsewhere 
sprang up colonial mansions which the 
architect visits and seeks to copy to-day. 
Tournaments have even been main- 
tained, and you may have seen them at 
the Virginia Springs, interesting, if less 
dangerous, than that in which " Sir Ste- 
phen de Wessington's arms (the Wash- 
ington arms) appeared at Dunstable, 
England," in the famous tournament in 
1327. Washington inherited good horse- 
manship with his fine physique. Most 



At the Last, in tJis l, ry i6i 



hospitably guests were welcomed and 
entertained, and the old refinement and 
hospitality are still evident. Passed on 
to be entertained from house to house 
in Washington's day, guests went with- 
out a line of introduction : if the intro- 
duction were brief it was hearty, and 
it were well if it were as courtly in its 
expression as the following from Wash- 
ington : " The historian and philosopher, 
Volney, needs no recommendation from 
G. Washington." Even after the French 
Revolution Washington described his 
house, Mount Vernon, as a " well-resort- 
• ed tavern," and said that for twenty 
' years his family never dined alone. He 
I needed sometimes financial aid from the 
branch of his family to whom he was 
enabled to leave that mansion and estate, 
since entails had been cut off as the re- 
sult of the American Revolution. 

We take such glimpses of society as 
I we may in passing, and note the influ- 
I ence as well of heredity and environment 
1 in forming Washington's manners and 
culture, and in fixing his reading habits 
land his memorable relation to his li- 
brary. Being indebted above to a work 
not generally accessible, we give mainly 



1 62 At the Last, in His Library 



in the author's words for those who may 
not otherwise meet it, the following from 
'* The Barons of the Potomack and the 
Rappahannock," by Moncure Daniel 
Conway, New York, 1892, published by 
the Grolier Club : *' Looking back over 
the pre-Revolutionary era, we can now 
see that the conflicting forces were chief- 
ly represented by two families which had 
been pre-eminently involved in the corre- 
sponding struggle in England, the Fair- 
faxes and the Washingtons, and of these 
families two figures stand out above all 
others in the light of history — George 
Washington and Lord Fairfax. When 
Lord Fairfax first visited Virginia, 
George Washington was a child of sev- 
en years. It may have been among his 
earliest recollections to have seen the 
nobleman passing his father's house on 
the way to Belvoir. The live lord, own- 
er of all the land, must have appeared to 
the child the greatest man in the world. 
But in the summer of 1746, when Lord 
Fairfax again came from England, and 
this time to make his home in Virginia, 
George Washington was old enough to 
be reckoned with. In July Mr. Morye's 
school in Fredericksburg was dismissed 



At tJie Last, in His Library 163 

for vacation, and his hard-working pupil, 
George Washington, sped to enjoy his 
holiday at Mount Vernon and Belvoir, 
homes in sight of each other, in both of 
Avhich he was always welcome. At the 
time of Lord Fairfax's arrival, George 
was a special subject of discussion in 
both houses. . . . They were all trying 
to overcome his mother's objections " to 
his accepting a midshipman's commis- 
sion, but in vain. Lord Fairfax, an old 
bachelor of fifty-seven, " literary, philo- 
sophical, shrewd," at once, tradition has 
it, took a fancy " to the studious lad of 
fourteen, who had written out and prac- 
tised so carefully the old French Rules 
of Courtesy and Decent Behavior." 

A scholar, an essayist, Fairfax knew, 
and doubtless recalled, that the '' year 
1746 was the centenary of the famous 
siege of Worcester, in which that city 
I had been defended by its governor. Col- 
onel Henry Washington, against the 
'great General Fairfax. We can imagine 
the old lord sitting on the veranda with 
George, whose family his own had con- 
quered in war a hundred years before, 
telling him the story." General Fairfax, 
jupon investing Worcester with five 



164 At the Last, in His Library 

thousand troops, demanding its surren- 
der, received the following : " To Gen- 
eral Fairfax. — Sir : It is acknowledged 
by your books and by report of your own 
quarter that the King is in some of your 
armies." Then follows the passage al- 
ready quoted. The writer concludes : 
*' If I had fear, the profession of a sol- 
dier had not been begun, nor so long 
continued by your Excellency's humble 
servant, Henry Washington." There 
spoke the Washington of our day by 
the lips of his ancestor, one is tempted 
to exclaim. How marvellous a law of 
blessing or curse is heredity ! 

Ultimately and naturally the terms of 
capitulation accorded were creditable to 
Fairfax and satisfactory to Henry Wash- 
ington, when the king's order came. 
" In the year that General Fairfax joined 
Cromwell, the Rev. Lawrence Wash- 
ington was evicted for loyalty to the 
king, his family pauperized, his two sons 
presently driven to repair their broken 
fortunes in Virginia. The evicted vic- 
tor's name had descended to the lad's 
beloved brother, master of Mount Ver- 
non, husband of a Fairfax," a loyal sol- 
dier of the king. Thus we see ** the 



At the Last, in His Library 165 

sixth Lord Fairfax amid his six million 
acres and the boy whose highest ambi- 
tion was to serve their common king," 
and behind " the impenetrable veil wait- 
ed the strange hour when his lordship's 
estates should be saved from confiscation 
mainly by the influence of him now sit- 
ting at his feet." Further, " there is a 
tradition that when the first gun of the 
American Revolution was reported at 
the home of Lord Fairfax, Greenway 
Court, George Washington was dining 
there. The two friends parted with 
emotion, knowing that above their affec- 
tion a demon of discord must prevail." 
Fifty years before this time the fam- 
ilies had been linked by the marriage of 
" Anne and Eleanor Harrison, the former 
to a Fairfax, the latter to a Washington." 
We have seen whence came Washing- 
ton's culture. Conway concludes that 
his writings will make " his highest repu- 
tation." Reinforced by the devoted ser- 
vices of the youthful Washington, Lord 
Fairfax when about '' to take formal pos- 
session of the long-disputed boundaries 
of his great inheritance, foresaw cities 
springing up in it, and contemplated for 
himself a literary retreat and associated 



1 66 At the Last, in His Library 

with it his young friend." Thus '' the 
English lord and the Virginia boy, seat- 
ed on Belvoir veranda gazing on the 
Potomac, are now visible as the even- 
ing star of an old, and the morning star 
of a new horizon." 

This friendship continued between 
Washington and one who has been called 
the " Nimrod of Greenway Court, with 
whom he first learned to follow the 
hounds, and who lived on in a green old 
age at his sylvan retreat in the beau- 
tiful valley of the Shenandoah." Lord 
Fairfax in his ninety-second year, his 
last, having lived to hear of the surren- 
der of Yorktown and the capture of 
Lord Cornwallis with all his army, as 
the tradition is, called to his black at- 
tendant : '' Come, Joe, carry me to bed, 
for it is high time for me to die." Wash- 
ington's protection had never failed his 
patron, whose friendship furthered that 
culture which was closely related to the 
building, filling, and using of the Mount 
Vernon library. 

Of late the celebrated book-plate of 
Washington has been forged, and his 
autograph placed on duplicates (or fac- 
simile reprints) of volumes named in the 



At the Last, ill His Library 167 

appraiser's list, to tempt the unwary 
collector. Mindful of some such possi- 
bility, one into whose hands came the 
original plate cut the copper into pieces 
and sunk them in the Schuylkill River. 
The forgers seem not to have noticed 
that, unlike their work, in the original 
plate " the tail of the g " runs into the 
scroll-work. Facts of interest to spe- 
cialists on this and kindred topics may 
be found in the volume entitled ''Ameri- 
can Book-plates." Much which Wash- 
ington wrote and many related matters 
of importance as to his literary life are 
scattered through unnumbered manu- 
scripts and publications, such as periodi- 
cals, pamphlets, biographies, and private 
letters. It may be remarked again in 
passing, as applicable to others, but es- 
pecially to Washington, that among the 
greatest writers have been the authors 
of epistles. 

The question of the authorship of the 
farewell address also relates to his liter- 
ary career. Persons whose point of view 
is the pedestal of prejudice or the seat 
of the scorner, or who lack magnanimity 
like his, speak as though gathering in- 
formation or adopting suggestions, add- 



1 68 At tJic Last, in His Library 

ing to or subtracting from the whole, 
proves plagiarism. It is not true always 
that " no one can answer a sneer," for the 
sneering insinuation herein has been 
answered satisfactorily. But there are 
related considerations which have not 
been sufficiently brought out. Wash- 
ington had a personal, and in many 
cases under the constitution an official, 
right to the opinions he sought. His 
correspondence as to the farewell ad- 
dress was open and above-board. If 
you are familiar with his letters and of- 
ficial papers, considering not only what 
he modified or added because of sugges- 
tions, but what he was induced to omit, 
you may regret that, with reference to 
this address, he took counsel with any 
one, however distinguished. 

A most satisfactory '' Inquiry into the 
Formation of Washington's Farewell Ad- 
dress " was published by one of Ameri- 
ca's most erudite and upright lawyers, 
Horace Binney, Esq. In my boyhood, 
at the celebration of the first Atlantic 
cable, I was assigned to occupy until his 
arrival the seat reserved for the Hon. 
Edward Everett beside President Eli- 
phalet Nott, and soon afterward met 



At the Last, in His Library 169 

and conversed with the learned and af- 
fable Horace Binney. It was upon his 
remarkable summary relating to the fare- 
well address that the late Mr. Everett 
drew, coupling with his conclusion hon- 
orable to Washington the regret that 
passages omitted because of suggestions 
made to Washington had not been 
retained in his farewell address. Com- 
pared with pompous periods then prev- 
alent, Washington's best style was sim- 
1 pie, direct, lucid. 

I Do you not recall this readily when 
i you place beside some passages in the 
I farewell address the same noble senti- 
I ments expressed by Washington on 
j more happy occasions? The suggestion 
I does not apply here that this discussion 
I is unimportant, since asserted facts of 
history, even of Christianity, are of little 
moment, whether proved or disproved, 
now that the principles they were de- 
signed to reveal have become embodied 
in State and in Church. For Washing- 
ton is too near our day to make hopeless 
the attempt to clear up all which relates 
to him. His principles are not yet so 
essentially a part of the national life as 
to render the smallest facts of his career 



170 ^'It the Last, in His Library 



valueless. In any case, in the matter 
before us we have an incidental illustra- 
tion of his use both of men and books. 

Despite the maxim, " Study men, not 
books," his habits of reading, reflecting, 
consulting, show his determination to 
study men and books. Therefore, just 
as a good reader with a topic in hand 
turns from volume to volume, or if he 
has a good reading memory, recalls 
from books what he needs for his pur- 
pose, so Washington, versed in this, 
knew also how to turn from man to 
man. Modestly, he learned views and 
listened to advice. When the time 
came for the address the material he 
had originated or acquired was co-or- 
dinated in his mind with such aptitude 
and force that he made it one, and so 
made it his own. 

In his career from first to last he 
knew, and was too true not to disclose, 
his natural distrust of his own powers 
in the presence of unnumbered difficul- 
ties and responsibilities, and his depend- 
ence upon " the Higher Power." His 
attitude, even as to his greatest achieve- 
ments, was that of Bible heroes, who ex- 
claimed, '' Not unto us but unto Thy 



At tJie Last, in His Library 171 

name be the praise." He knew that 
Providence had raised up among the 
nations law-givers and leaders whose 
light and leading were followed for ages. 
At the last he came to know what man- 
ner of man he was. Like prophets sur- 
prised that they were filled with a power 
not their own, and with a ken far be- 
yond their ordinary vision, as he pre- 
pared the address his devout heart beat 
for all men ; his mind's eye rested on 
generations yet unborn, who for " ages 
of ages " were to study his words and 
deeds, review his principles, and renew 
his life. Our people and other nations 

\ were destined, in securing their own 
adequate national development, to fol- 
low his example, and to ascend by the 
path to which in words such as the fol- 
lowing he pointed in saying " farewell : " 
Of dispositions and habits tending to 

I political prosperity, '' religion and mo- 
rality are indispensable supports. — In 
vain would that man claim the tribute 
of patriotism, who should labor to sub- 
vert these great Pillars of human happi- 
ness, these firmest props of the duties of 
Men and Citizens. . . . The remem- 
brance of your steadfast confidence I 



1/2 At the Last^ in His Library 

shall carry with me to the grave, as a 
strong incitement to unceasing vows 
that Heaven may continue to you the 
choicest tokens of its beneficence — that 
your union and brotherly affection may 
be perpetual — that the free constitu- 
tion, which is the work of your hands, 
may be sacredly maintained — that its 
administration in every department may 
be stamped with wisdom and virtue — 
that, in fine, the happiness of the people 
of these States, under the auspices of lib- 
erty, may be made complete, by so care- 
ful a preservation and so prudent a use 
of this blessing as will acquire to them 
the glory of recommending it to the ap- 
plause, the affection, and the adoption of 
every nation which is a stranger to it." 

Foreign writers vied with the Amer- 
ican people in praising the farewell ad- 
dress. Lauding Washington's '' disin- 
terested virtue, prophetic wisdom, and 
imperturbable fortitude," in his history 
of Europe, Alison quotes at length from 
the address, including that solemn warn- 
ing against party excesses which con- 
cludes as follows : '' The disorders and 
miseries which result gradually incline 
the minds of men to seek security and 



Af tJic Last, in His Library 173 

repose in the absolute power of a sin- 
gle individual ; and sooner or later, the 
chief of some prevailing faction, more 
able or more fortunate than his compet- 
itors, turns this despotism to the pur- 
poses of his own elevation, on the ruins 
of public liberty." The historian, after 
quoting this passage, exclaims : '' What 
words to be spoken by the founder of 
the American Republic, the refuser of 
the American crown, at a time when the 
career of Napoleon had hardly com- 
menced in Europe ! " In the same con- 
nection Alison continues his splendid 
tribute. 

Of 1796 he writes: "The end of the 
year witnessed the resignation of the 
I presidency of the United States of 
I America by General Washington, and 
j his voluntary retirement into private 
j life. Modern history has not so spotless 
, a character to commemorate. Invinci- 
j ble in resolution, firm in conduct, incor- 
' ruptible in integrity, he brought to the 
helm of a victorious republic the simplic- 
ity and innocence of rural life*, he was 
forced into greatness by circumstances, 
rather than led into it by inclination, 
and prevailed over his enemies rather 



174 ^i^ ^^^^' Last, 7)1 His Library 

by the wisdom of his designs and the 
perseverance of his character than any 
extraordinary genius for the art of war. 
A soldier from necessity and patriotism 
rather than disposition, he was the first 
to recommend a return to pacific coun- 
sels when the independence of his coun- 
try was secured, and bequeathed to his 
countrymen an address, on leaving their 
government, to which there is no com- 
position of uninspired wisdom which 
can bear a comparison. He was modest 
without diffidence ; sensible to the voice 
of fame without vanity ; independent 
and dignified without either asperity or 
pride. He was a friend to liberty, but 
not licentiousness ; not to the dreams of 
enthusiasts, but to those practical ideas 
which America had inherited from her 
English descent, and which were op- 
posed to nothing so much as the ex- 
travagant love of power in the French 
democracy. Accordingly, after having 
signalized his life by successful resist- 
ance to English oppression, he closed it 
by the warmest advice to cultivate the 
friendship of Great Britain ; and by his 
casting vote, shortly before his resig- 
nation, ratified a treaty of friendly and 



At the Last, in His Library 175 



commercial intercourse between the 
mother-country and its emancipated off- 
spring. He was a Cromwell without 
his ambition; a Sylla without his crimes ; 
and, after having raised his country, by 
his exertions, to the rank of an inde- 
pendent state, closed his career by a 
voluntary relinquishment of the power 
which a grateful people had bestowed. 
It is the highest glory of England to 
have given birth, even amidst transat- 
lantic wilds, to such a man ; and if she 
cannot number him among those who 
have extended her provinces or aug- 
mented her dominions, she may at least 
feel a legitimate pride in the victories 
which he achieved, and the great qual- 
ities which he exhibited, in the contest 
with herself ; and indulge with satisfac- 
tion the reflection that that vast empire, 
which neither the ambition of Louis the 
XIV. nor the power of Napoleon could 
dismember, received its first rude shock 
from the courage which she had com- 
municated to her own offspring ; and 
that, amid the convulsions and revolu- 
tions of other states, real liberty has 
arisen in that country alone." 

While such were the praises resound- 



1/6 At the Last^ in His Library 

ing at home and abroad, Washington's 
thoughts modestly and gladly turned 
from the world to his " farm." When- 
ever settled there, the record is that 
with a view to the management of his 
estates, he was accustomed to read 
much on agriculture. Of the change 
from his daily habit as General and 
President he wrote : '* My usual custom 
as soon as I awaked in the morning of 
ruminating on the business of the fol- 
lowing day," was on reaching the home 
haven, followed on recalling the event- 
ful past, " by devout gratitude to the 
all powerful Guide and dispenser of hu- 
man events." 

His feelings were not all serious. His 
laughter, usually quiet, was at times 
under surprise uproarious, as on the 
noted occasion when he threw himself 
on the ground and rolled for relief. 
The entertainment for streams of guests 
was cordial and as simple as it was 
both dignified and acceptable. Mr. El- 
kanah Wilson's account of the Mount 
Vernon circle and hospitality, edifying 
as it is, is too long for our purpose. 
He had taken a severe cold and de- 
clined medicine during: the day, but his 



At the Last, in His Library lyj 

cough troubling him after he retired, 
he who wrote : " I trembled with awe 
on first coming into the presence of 
Washington," yet found to his surprise 
in the dead of night his door gently 
opened and Washington standing be- 
side his bed with a soothing draught. 
Washington wrote Count Rochambeau : 
" In retirement on my farm I speculate 
upon the fate of nations, amusing my- 
self with innocent reveries that man- 
kind will one day grow happier and 
better." The cares and honors of two 
terms as the President of the United 
States were followed by the firm decli- 
nation of a suggested third term, and 
then finally, after his formal farewell, by 
his happy retirement from public life to 
Mount Vernon and his library. 

The eighteenth century was closing, 

and as the winter opened Washington's 

arrangement of the historical material 

I gathered at Mount Vernon was well 

] advanced. Having loved his librar)-, 

1 but often by his public duties obliged to 

i leave it, he loved it unto the end ; always 

the heart of his home, he mio:ht well 

have breathed his last there among his 

books. He was, however^ in the full 



178 At the Last, in His Library 

tide of health and happily employed 
both in his library and in improving 
his grounds and his mansion. But " the 
night Cometh in which no man can 
work : " 

" Pallida mors ^quo pulsat pede pauperum tabemas 
Regumque turres." 

If sudden the summons he would be 
found '* ready " in the true spirit of that 
Book which, always dear to him, was 
nearest to him at the last. Walking at 
Mount Vernon, along the path since 
trod by myriads in his honor, he 
pointed to the spot he had selected for 
his last resting-place, and referring to 
changes to be made, said, " This I shall 
make first, for I may require it before 
the rest." Yet when soon after his best- 
loved nephew with his companion said 
farewell, Washington having returned 
and dismounted after his early rounds 
in the bright and bracing air, was so 
vigorous and hearty and so " sprightly 
in manner," that it brought the remark 
from both of them that " they had 
never seen the General look so well." 
Recalling that last sight of Washing- 
ton, his cheek flushed with health as 



At the Last, in His Library 179 

after his morning ride he stood at his 
hospitable door to speed the parting 
guest with large heart and kindly hand 
and with commanding form, his nephew 
exclaimed, " I have sometimes thought 
him the handsomest man I ever saw." 
But he was far more. 

When the curtain was rung down on 
the last act of Washington's career, he 
had worked out in his library and life 
much of that which his forecasting mind 
had designed for the public good and 
for the welfare of those immediately de- 
pendent upon him. By heredity and 
habit opposed to laziness and inefhcien- 
I cy, he impressed upon others the honor- 
] able claims of labor. Before me lies, in 
exact fac-simile of his handwriting, his 
' letter from Mount Vernon to relatives 
" of his own and his wife's — a young mar- 
ried couple whom he loved too well not 
to advise frankly and wisely. He writes, 
under date of September 20, 1799 • " ^^7 
\ opinion is that a young man should have 
j objects of employment. Idleness is dis- 
\ reputable under any circumstances — 
productive of no good, even when un- 
accompanied by vicious habits." 

Yet he recognized when overworked 



i8o At tJie Last, in His Library 



the claims of recreation ; and he felt, too, 
the charms of ease. But his allegiance 
was to another — to duty. As he kept 
" holy " the day of rest, he also obeyed 
the no less important commandment. 
*' Six days shalt thou labor." Thus 
work became the habit of his life. The 
noble conception of its requirements 
rarely left him from his early rising un- 
til his hours of rest. That rest was 
troubled one memorable night in the 
last month of the year of grace 1799. He 
had with his accustomed force and lu- 
cidity finished on the loth of December, 
in the sixty-seventh year of his age, the 
statement for his agent covering thirty 
folio pages. On the morning of the 
1 2th he had written Alexander Ham- 
ilton as to founding the West Point Mil- 
itary Academy, recalling his own re- 
lated plans and frequent recommenda- 
tions. He had previously w^ritten of 
long winter evenings and books and of 
soon looking into the great Doomsday 
Book. 

During the morning of the 13th he 
was still busy ; in the afternoon he went 
from his library to attend to his planta- 
tion ; in the evening he was with Mrs. 



At the Last, in His Library i8i 

Washinsrton and others, and listened 
to reading, or read to them ; but with 
difficulty, because of the cold he had 
taken the day before. His last writ- 
ing was in his journal, and '' though 
suffering he was cheerful and in his li- 
brary until a late hour." During the 
night his sufferings returned. He en- 
dured them and refused to have help 
called lest others should be troubled. 
He continued thus considerate of all 
about him. Line upon line, precept 
upon precept, by faithful practice he had 
made his own the letter and the spirit 
of that sublime Book which he read de- 
voutly and prized supremely. 

The following day, although his last, 
was still a working day. He gave final 
and clear instructions as to his affairs, 
especially referring to the letters and 
papers with which he had been so much 
occupied in his library. " Doctor," he 
had said, " I die hard, but I am not 
afraid to die ; " and some years before, 
when ill and in immediate danger of 
death, he exclaimed : " Whether to-night 
or twenty years hence makes no differ- 
ence ; I know that I am in the hands of 
a good Providence." As his labored 



1 82 At tJic Last J in His Library 

breathing ceased, " his dearly beloved 
wife," as he called her, knelt beside 
him, " her head bowed upon the Bi- 
ble." 

'' Faithful unto death ; " then, as '' the 
battles, sieges, fortunes " they had 
passed together flashed upon her mem- 
ory, she could justly claim that she had 
heard the first and last gun of every 
campaign of the national war. In many 
an hour of trial and want the soldiers 
found her a helpful friend and honored 
her ever after. As wife and housewife 
she was a worthy helpmeet for her hus- 
band, not only on the farm and in the 
camp, but in the Executive Mansion and 
in society. But most of all she loved to 
be with him at Mount Vernon, and aided 
rather than retarded his labors in his li- 
brary. And when, leaving it, he passed 
speedily to the timeless world and the 
Book of Life, she lingered behind but 
for a few months, and those were 
principally spent in her room and be- 
side its window looking out upon his 
tomb. 

Thither they had borne him through 
the gateway by which forty years be- 
fore as his bride she had entered his 



Af the Last, in His Library 183 

Mount Vernon mansion, ever afterward 
their cherished home. 

" Let the long, long procession go, 
And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow. 
Lead out the pageant." 

Ah, no ! Washington would have no 
*' pageant." His request had been clear 
that all should be simple, unostentatious. 
Although his unfeigned modesty and 
Christian humility deprecated the noise 
and pageantry of a nation's display of 
mourning, he could not prevent that 
universal grief, which was sorrow as 
for a personal bereavement, as he went 
down to his grave amid the lamenta- 
tions of the land and of all lands. The 
Light from the Book of Life illumined 
the last darkness ; his faith in immortal- 
ity was strong ; his hope and love were 
stronger than death. 

As his aspiration was for the unity of 
Christendom, all Christians in this land 
at least might well unite in the centen- 
nial commemoration of his death. By 
all means which Providence hath put 
in our power should the Father of our 
country be brought to the attention of 
the people that his example may mould 



184 At tJie Last, in His Library 

the patriotic life of the future. For 
great in public, he was, as we have seen, 
no less a model in private life. The 
ancestor of one of the noblest generals 
of the late Confederacy, General Henry 
Lee, the *' Light-horse Harrj' " of the 
Revolution, pointed out this character- 
istic in a passage the significant con- 
clusion of which is as seldom quoted as 
its opening is familiar and memorable : 
" First in war, first in peace, first in the 
hearts of his countrymen, he was second 
to none in the humble and endearing 
scenes of private life." 

" Of making many books there is no 
end." If this should ever prove a mis- 
fortune, is not a blessing in store for 
the land if it comes to pass, as seems 
probable, that there is to be " no end " 
of the making of noble libraries and as- 
sociated lecture courses? Just opened 
are the Demarest Library and Fund at 
Hobart College, and the Hoffman Li- 
brary and Lecture Course at St. Ste- 
phen's. These foundations include in- 
struction in the right use of books, 
and therefore this study to-day of Wash- 
ington and his use of books is here pre- 
sented as of importance both to us and 



At the Last, in His Library 185 

also to coming times. All signs fail 
unless, in the future still more than in 
the past, books and libraries multiply. 
The right use of books, then, needs to 
be more and more impressed upon the 
people. The exemplar in this and other 
regards, and especially to leaders of 
municipal reform and civic dut}^ is, 
par excellence, Washington. Such an 
exemplar will have the happiest effect 
upon a hopeful century ; and the com- 
ing century, notwithstanding fearful 
auguries, is dawning amidst the highest 
hopes of humanity. 

Pre-eminently a man of action, he- 
redity, environment, effort, his library 
and his use of it made Washington 
more of a reading man than he is gen- 
erally understood to have been. This 
much at least it is hoped is here shown. 
Not only in Washington's ordinary life, 
but as facts prove, in his greatest 
achievements also, books had a memo- 
rable part. 

In conclusion we recall the fact that, at 
a comparatively early period, he wrote : 
*T conceive that a knowledge of books 
is the basis on which all other knowl- 
edge rests." Pointing in this impres- 



1 86 A/ the Last, in His Library 

sive way to books as the foundation 
of all knowledge, he made good use of 
them generally, and pre-eminently of 
the Book of Books. Religion was more 
than a name to him, Christianity more 
than an ecclesiastical system. The pow- 
er not ourselves which makes for right- 
eousness, strength, purity, in individ- 
uals and nations he felt as a transform- 
ing personality. In conformity, there- 
fore, to his example is found the best 
hope for coming times. Let the na- 
tion from age to age recall his words 
and deeds, his books and writings, and 
remember that in the spirit in which he 
fought for the nation's flag, and de- 
voted life, fortune, and sacred honor to 
his country, he solemnly declared his 
civic faith, and in the following im- 
mortal words proclaimed his abiding 
hope and love for the United States of 
America : " Urged by self-preservation 
to exert the strength which Providence 
has given us to defend our natural 
RIGHTS, the event we leave to Him who 
speaks the fate of nations, in humble 
confidence that He will not withdraw 
His countenance from a people who 
array themselves under His banner." 



Bppenblj 



APPENDIX 

That the collection of books in the library of 
Mount Vernon at the time of Washington's death 
was in magnitude and character such as I have inti- 
mated is further shown by the titles given in the 
appraiser's list, as tirst filed in the Orphans' Court 
of Fairfax County, Va. As corrected for manifest 
errors by the Hon. Edward Everett, it is printed be- 
low. We are enabled for the first time to indicate 
in print the books from that list which are now 
in the Boston Athenseum. The librarian writes 
that " a printed catalogue of the collection has been 
contemplated ever since the books were obtained ; " 
he " regrets to say it has never been carried out." 
He writes further : " It contains, I believe, three 
hundred and eighty-four volumes (384)." From 
the general catalogue (i 874-1 882) of that institution 
we add to the appraiser's list more complete titles 
of many of the books. The prices are also given 
as stated in the original appraisal, since those buy- 
ing books once Washington's may be interested in 
the contrasted values then and now. Further, any 
book offered for sale and claimed to be once Wash- 
ington's can be compared with titles given here, or 
elsewhere as belonging to other parties. Thus is 
furnished to the collector or book-buyer a useful if 
not infallible test. Collections private and public 
referred to in this lecture comprise valuable vol- 
umes once in Washington's library, the titles of 
which may be added to those which haye been 



IQO Appendix 



named herein in connection with information as to 
places where they may be found. By comparing 
publishers' and other catalogues of Washingtoniana 
and consulting the owners of private collections and 
the catalogues of public libraries, it may be possi- 
ble to announce in a future publication the wherea- 
bouts of all or almost all of the books of Washing- 
ton's Mount Vernon library. The volumes marked 
with a star in the following list are in the Boston 
Athenaeum collection : 

American Encyclopedia, i8 vols., 4to $150 or 

Skombrand's Dictionary, i vol 75- 

Memoir of a Map Hindostan, i vol., 4to.. 8 a 

*Young's Travels, i vol 4 oc 

[Young, Arthur : Travels, 1787-89, with 

a view of ascertaining the cultivation, 

wealth, etc., of France.] 

^Johnson's Dictionary, 2 vols 10 00 

[Johnson, Samuel, LL.D. : Dictionary of 

the English Language, London, 1756, 

2 vols., 8vo.] 

Guthrie's Geography, 2 vols 20 00 

Elements of Rigging, {^) 2 vols 20 00 

Principles of Taxation, i vol 2 00 

*Luzac's Oration, i vol i 00 

[Luzac, Johan : Oratio de Socrate cive, 

21 February, 1795.] 

Mawe's Gardener, i vol 4 00 

Jeffries's Aerial Voyage, i vol i 00 

*Beacon Hill, i vol i 00 

[Morton, Mrs. S. W. A. : A local poem. 

Book L, Boston, 1797, 4to.] 
Memoirs of the American Academy (one of 

which is a pamphlet), 2 vols 3 00 

Duhamel's Husbandry, i vol 2 00 



Appendix 191 



Langley on Gardening, i vol $2 00 

*Price's Carpenter, i vol i 00 

[Price, Francis : British Carpenter ; a 

treatise on carpentry, 5th ed., London, 

1765,410.] 

*Count de Grasse, i vol i 00 

Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, i vol 5 00 

Gibbon's Diseases of Horses, i vol 3 00 

Rumford's Essays 3 00 

Miller's Tracts, i vol., 8vo 200 

Rowley's Works, 4 vols 1 2 00 

*Robertson's Charles V., 4 vols 16 00 

[Robertson, William : History of the 

Reign of Charles V., with the Progress 

of Society, etc., London, 1769, 3 vols., 

4to.j 

Gordon's History of America, 4 vols 12 00 

Gibbon's Roman Empire, 6 vols 18 00 

Stanyan's Grecian History, 2 vols 2 00 

Adam's Rome, 2 vols 4 00 

Anderson's Institute, i vol 2 00 

Robertson's America, 2 vols 4 00 

Ossian's Poems, i vol 2 00 

*Humphreys's Works, i vol. 3 00 

[Humphreys, David, D.D. : Historical 

Account of the Society for Propagating 

the Gospel in Foreign Parts, London, 

1730, 8vo.] 

King of Prussia's Works, 13 vols 26 00 

Gillies's Frederick, i vol i 50 

Goldsmith's Natural History, 8 vols 12 00 

Locke on Understanding, 2 vols 3 00 

Shipley's Works, 2 vols ., 4 00 

Buffon's Natural History, abridged, 2 vols. , 4 00 

*Ramsay's History, 2 vols 2 00 

[Ramsay, David : History of the Amer- 



1 92 Appendix 



lean Revolution, Philadelphia, 1789, 
2 vols., 8vo.] 

The Bee (13th vol, missing), 18 vols $34 00 

Sully's Memoirs, 6 vols 9 00 

Fletcher's Appeal, i vol i 00 

History of Spain, 2 vols., 8vo 3 00 

Jortin's Sermons, 2 vols 2 00 

Chapman on Education, i vol 75 

Smith's Wealth of Nations, 3 vols 450 

History of Louisiana, 2 vols 2 00 

*Warren's Poems, i vol 50 

[Warren, Mrs. Mercy (Otis) : Poems dra- 
matic and miscellaneous, Boston, 1790, 
2 vols., i2mo.] 

Junius's Letters, i vol i 00 

City Addresses, i vol i 00 

Conquest of Canaan, i vol i 00 

Shakespeare's Works, i vol 2 00 

^Antidote to Deism, 2 vols i 00 

[Ogden, Rev. Uzal : Antidote to Deism. 
The Deist Unmasked : or, An Ample 
Refutation of all the Objections of T. 
Paine Against the Christian Religion, 
Newark, 1795, 2 vols., i6mo.J 

^Memoirs of 2500, i vol 75 

[Mercier, Louis Sebastien : English Me- 
moirs of the Year 2500 ; translated by 
W. Hooper, Philadelphia, 1795. i2mo.j 

*Forest's Voyage, i vol., 4to 3 00 

Don Quixote, 4 vols 12 00 

Ferguson's Roman History, 3 vols 12 00 

Watson's History of Philip H., i vol 4 00 

^Barclay's Apology, i vol 3 00 

[Barclay, Robert : Apology for the True 
Christian Divinity as held forth by the 
Quakers, Svo.J 



Appendix 193 



Uniform of the Forces of Great Britain in 

1742, I vol $20 GO 

*Otway's Art of War, i vol 3 00 

[Translated by Otway from Turkin de 
Cresse.] 

Political States of Europe, 2 vols., 8vo 20 00 

Winchester's Lectures, 4 vols - 6 00 

*Principles of Hydraulics, 2 vols 2 00 

[Dubuat, Nancay, comte Louis Gabriel : 
Principes d'hydraulique, Paris, 1786, 2 
vols., 8vo.] 

*Leigh on Opium, i vol., 8vo 75 

[Leigh, John, M.D. : Inquiries into the 
Properties of Opium, Edinburgh, 1786, 
8vo.] 

*Heath's Memoirs, i vol 2 00 

[Heath, Wm. : Memoirs, containing An- 
ecdotes, Details of Skirmishes, etc., 
during the American War ; written by 
himself, Boston, 1798, 8vo.] 

* American Museum, 10 vols 1 5 00 

[American Museum ; or, .Repository of 
Fugitive Pieces, vols. 1-13, January, 
1787.] 

Vertot's Rome, 2 vols 2 00 

Harte's Gustavus, 2 vols 2 00 

Moore's Navigation, i vol 2 00 

Graham on Education, i vol 2 00 

*History of the Mission among the Indians 

in North America, i vol 2 00 

[Loskiel, George Heinrich : History of 
the Mission of the United Brethren 
among the Indians of North America ; 
translated by C. I. Latrobe, London, . 
1794, 8vo.] 

French Constitution, i vol i 50 

13 



[94 Appendix 



Winthrop's Journal, i vol %\ 50 

*American Magazine, i vol., 8vo 4 00 

[American Magazine, vol. i. New York, 
1787-88, 8vo.] 

Watt's Views, i vol., 410 20 00 

History of Marshal Turenne, 2 vols,, 8vo... 2 00 
Ramsay's Revolution of South Carolina, 

2 vols 2 00 

*History of Quadrupeds, 1 vol i 50 

[Bewick, Thos. : General History of 
Quadrupeds, 3d edition, Newcastle-on- 
Tyne, 1792, 8vo.] 

Carver's Travels, i vol i 50 

Moore's Italy, 2 vols 3 00 

Moore's France, 2 vols 3 00 

Chastellux's Travels, i vol .... i 00 

Chastellux's Voyages, i vol i 00 

Volney's Travels, 2 vols 3 00 

*Volney's Ruins, i vol i 50 

[Volney, Constantin Frangois Chasse- 
boeuf, comte de : The Ruins, or Sur- 
vey of the Revolutions of Empires, 
N. Y., 1796, i2mo.] 

*Warville's Voyage, in French, 3 vols 3 00 

[Brissot de Warville, Jean Pierre : Nou- 
veau Voyages dans les Etats Unis, 
1788, Paris, 1 79 1, 3 vols., 8vo.j 
*Warville on the Relation of France to the 

United States i 00 

[Claviere, Etienne, and Brissot de War- 
ville : Considerations on the Relative 
Situation of France and the United. 
States, London, 1783, 8vo. ] 

*Miscellanies, i vol., 4to i 00 

Fulton on Small Canals and Iron Bridges, 

I vol 3 00 



Appendix 195 



*Liberty, a Poem, i vol $0 50 

*Hazard's Collection of State Papers, 2 vols. 5 00 
[Hazard, Ebenezer : Historical Collec- 
tions ; state papers and other authen- 
tic documents intended as material for 
an history of the United States, 1792-94, 
Philadelphia, 2 vols., 4to.j 

*Young's Travels, 2 vols 4 00 

[Young, Arthur, 2d ed., London, 1794, 
2 vols., 4to.] 

West's Discourses, i vol 2 00 

*A Statement of Representation of Eng- 

i land and Wales, i vol 50 

' [Address by Friends of the People, Lon- 
I don.] 

I *Miscellanies, 2 vols., 4to 2 00 

' Political Pieces, i vol i 00 

I ^Treaties, i vol 50 

I *Annual Register for 1781, i vol., 8vo .... 75 

[A new Annual Register, 1781.] 

I *Masonic Constitution, i vol., 4to i 00 

\ [Constitution of the Free Masons, 1792.] 

\ *Smith's Constitutions, i vol 50 

[Smith, William, LL.D., of South Car- 
olina, Representative in Congress, 
1 797-99- Comparative view of the Con- 
stitutions of the States of the United 
States, Philadelphia, 1796, 4to.] 

*Preston's Poems, 2 vols • i 00 

[Preston, William : Poetical Works, Dub- 
lin, 1793, 2 vols., Svo.J 
*History of the United States, 1796, i vol., 

Svo 50 

[Winterbotham, W. : History of the 
United States to 1789, vol. i, 1796, 
8vo.] 



I96 Appendix 



*Parliamentary Debates, 12 vols $6 cx) 

[Parliamentary Debates on the Dissent- 
ers' Chapel Bill.] 

*Mair's Book-keeping, i vol i 50 

[Mair, John, Book-keeping Modernized, 
Edinburgh, 1784, 8vo.] 

Miscellanies, i vol i 00 

Proceedings of the East India Company, 

I vol., folio 4 00 

Ladies' Magazine, 2 vols. , Svo. 3 00 

*Parliamentary Register, 7 vols 3 50 

[Almon, J. : Parliamentary Register, Pro- 
ceedings and Debates, 1774-80.] 

*Pryor's (Prior) Documents, 2 vols , . 2 00 

[Almon, J.j 

*Remembrancer, 6 vols 3 00 

[Almon, J. : The Remembrancer ; or. Im- 
partial Repository of Public Events, 
1775-84, London, 17 vols., 8vo. Boston 
Athenaeum has 3 vols, only.] 

*European Magazine, 2 vols 3 00 

[European Magazine and London Re- 
view, January, 1784-June, 1825.] 

*Columbian Magazine, 5 vols 10 oo 

[Columbian Magazine, or Monthly Mis- 
cellany, Phila., 1786-91, 5 vols., 8vo.] 

American Magazine, i vol 2 00 

New York Magazine, i vol 2 00 

*Christian's Magazine, i vol 2 00 

Walker on Magnetism, i vol 50 

Monroe's View of the Executive, i vol 75 

Massachusetts Magazine, 2 vols 4 00 

*A Five Minutes' Answer to Paine's Let- 
ter to General Washington, i vol i 00 

[Five Minutes' Answer to Paine's Letter 
to Washington, London, 1797, 8vo.] 



I 



Appendix 197 



.^Political Tracts, 2 vols $2 00 

Proceedings on Parliamentary Reform, i vol. 2 00 

*Poems on Various Subjects, i vol 50 

[Poems on Various Subjects, Glasgow, 
1756, 8vo.j 

^ Flays, etc., i vol 75 

Annual Register, 3 vols 4 50 

Botanico-Medical Dissertation, i vol 25 

*Oracle of Liberty, i vol 25 

[Hermes, pseud. : Oracle of Liberty and 
Mode of Establishing a Free Govern- 
ment, Philadelphia, 1791, 8vo.J 

Cadmus, i vol i 00 

Doctrine of Projectiles, i vol 50 

*Patricius the Utilist, i vol., 8vo. , 50 

[Geoghigan, R. : Thoughts of Patricius, 
an Utilist, on the Interests of Mankind, 
and particularly on those of the Irish 
Nation, Dublin, 1785, 8vo.l 

*Ahiman Rezon, i vol i 50 

[Keatinge, G.] 

Sharp on the Prophecies, i vol 75 

Minto on Planets, i vol 50 

Sharp on the English Tongue, i vol 50 

Sharp on the Limitation of Slavery, i vol , . i 50 

*Sharp on the People's Rights, i vol i 00 

[Sharp, Granville : Defence of the Rights 
of the People.] 

Sharp's Remarks, i vol 50 

National Defence, i vol 50 

Sharp's Free Militia, i vol 50 

Sharp on Congressional Ceurts, i vol 75 

*Ahiman Rezon, i vol i 00 

*Vision of Columbus, i vol 50 

[Barlow, Joel : Vision of Columbus, 
Hartford, 1787, 8vo.] 



198 Appendix 



Wilson's Lectures, i vol . $0 75 

Miscellanies, i vol , . i 00 

The Contrast, a Comedy, i vol 75 

*Sharp, an Appendix on Slavery, i vol ... . 50 

[Sharp, G.j 

Muir's Trial, i vol 75 

*End of Time, i vol 75 

*£rskine's View of the War, i vol i 00 

^Political Magazine, 3 vols 4 50 

*The Law of Nature, i vol., i2mo 75 

[Sharp, G., London, 1767, 8vo.] 

Washington's Legacy, i vol i 00 

^Political Tracts, i vol., 8vo i 00 

*America, i vol i 00 

[Five Pamphlets by J. Williams and 
others.] 

Proofs of a Conspiracy, i vol i 50 

Mackintosh's Defence, 1 vol i 00 

Miscellanies, i vol i 00 

Mirabeau, i vol i 00 

Virginia Journal, i vol., 4to i 00 

*Miscellanies, i vol. , 8vo i 25 

^Poems, etc., i vol. , 4to i 00 

*Morse's Geography, i vol., 8vo 2 00 

Messages, i vol i 00 

*History of Ireland, 2 vols 2 00 

[Crawford, W.] 

Harte's Works, i vol i 25 

♦Political Pamphlets, i vol i 00 

Burns's Poems, i vol 2 00 

^Political Tracts, i vol 75 

*Miscellanies, i vol ^ i 00 

Higgins on Cements, i vol i 00 

*Repository, 2 vols 3 00 

*Reign of George IIL, i vol I 00 

[History of the second ten years of.] 



Appendix 199 



^Political Tracts, i vol %\ 25 

Tar Water, i vol. . 75 

Minot's History, i vol 75 

Mease on the Bite of a Mad Dog, i vol... . i 75 

^Political Tracts, i vol. . i 00 

Reports, i vol i 50 

*Revolution of France, i vol i 00 

[Etienne de St. Robert.] 

, Essay on Property, i vol i 00 

Sir Henry Clinton's Narrative, i vol i 00 

Lord North's Administration, i vol i 50 

Lloyd's Rhapsody, i vol i 00 

*Tracts, i vol i 00 

Inland Navigation, i vol i 00 

Chesterfield's Letters, i vol i 50 

Smith's Constitutions, i vol., 4to i 00 

*Morse's Geography, 2 vols., 8vo 4 00 

Belknap's American Biography, 2 vols 3 00 

Belknap's History of New Hampshire, i vol. 2 00 

Belknap's History of New Hampshire, 3 vols. 5 00 

Minot's History of Massachusetts, i vol. . . 2 oo 

Jenkinson's Collections of Treaties, 3 vols. 6 00 

*District of Maine, i vol., 8vo i 50 

[Sullivan, J. : History of the District of 
Maine, Boston, 1795, 8vo.] 

Gulliver's Travels, 2 vols i 50 

^Tracts on Slavery, i vol i 00 

Priestley's Evidences, i vol i 00 

*Life of Buncle, 2 vols 3 00 

[Amory, T, : Life of John Buncle, Lon- 
don, 1766, 2 vols., 8vo.] 

*Webster's Essays, i vol i 50 

[Webster, Pelatiah : Political Essays on 
the Nature and Operation of Money, 
Public Finances, etc., Philadelphia, 
1791, Svo.] 



200 Appendix 



^Bartram's Travels, i vol $2 oo 

[Bartram, William : Travels Through 
North and South Carolina, Florida, the 
Cherokee Country, etc., Philadelphia, 
1791, 8vo.] 

*Bossu's Travels, 2 vols 3 00 

[Bossu, N.: Travels Through that Part of 
North America Formerly Called Loui- 
siana ; translated by J. R. Foster, 
London, 1771, 2 vols., 8vo.] 

*Situation of America, i vol i 00 

[Jackson, James : Thoughts, etc.] 

Jefferson's Notes, i vol i 50 

*Coxe's View, i vol i 50 

[Coxe, T. : View of the United States, 
Philadelphia, 1794, 8vo.j 

Ossian's Poems, i vol i 50 

Adams on Globes, i vol 2 00 

*Pike's Arithmetic, i vol 2 00 

[Pike, Nicholas : Nev;^ and Complete Sys- 
tem of Arithmetic, Newburyport, 1788, 
8vo.] 

*Barnaby's Sermons and Travels, i vol i 00 

[Barnaby, Andrew.] 

*Champion on Commerce, i vol i 00 

[Champion, Richard.] 

Brown's Bible, i vol. , fol , . 15 00 

[Boston Athenseum has Beza's Latin 
Bible, New Testament.] 

Bishop Wilson's Bible, 3 vols 60 00 

Bishop Wilson's Works 1 5 00 

Laws of New York, 2 vols 12 00 

Laws of Virginia, 2 vols 3 00 

Middleton's Architecture, i vol 3 00 

Miller's Naval Architecture, i vol 4 00 

The Senator's Remembrancer, i vol 3 00 



Appendix 201 



*The Origin of the Tribes or Nations in 

America, i vol., 8yo, Barton $0 75 

[Barton, Benjamin S.: New Views of tlie 
Origin, etc., Philadelphia, 1797, 8vo.] 
A Treatise on the Principles of Commerce 

Between Nations, i vol 50 

Annual Register, i vol 50 

^General Washington's Letters, 2 vols 4 00 

[Washington, G.: Official Letters to Con- 
gress during the War Between the Col- 
onies and Great Britain, London, 1795, 
2 vols., 8vo,J 

^Insurrection, i vol 50 

American Remembrancer, 3 vols. i 50 

Epistles for the Ladies, i vol 50 

*Discourses upon Common Prayer, i vol. . 25 

[Comber, Thomas.] 
The Trial of the Seven Bishops, i vol., Svo. . 50 

Lebroune's Surveyor, i vol., folio i 00 

Sharp's Sermons, i vol., Svo 50 

Muir's Discourses, i vol 75 

Emblems, Divine and Moral, i vol i oo 

*Yorick's Sermons, 2 vols i 00 

[Sterne, Lawrence : Sermons of Mr. Yo- 
rick, London, 1794, 2 vols., i2mo.] 
D'lvernois on Agriculture, Colonies, and 

Commerce, i vol 75 

Pocket Dictionary, i vol 25 

Prayer Book, i vol i 50 

*Royal English Grammar, i vol 25 

[Greenwood, J. : The Royal English 
Grammar, 3d edition, London, 1747, 
i2mo.] 

^Principles of Trade Compared, i vol 50 

[New and old principles of trade com- 
pared, London, 1788, 8vo.] 



202 Appc7idix 



"'^Dr. Morse's Sermon, i vol $o 50 

[Morse, Jed. : The Duty of Resignation 
under Afflictions, Boston, 1796, 4to.] 

*Duche's Sermon, 1775, i vol 50 

[Duche, Rev. Jacob : Duty of Standing 
Fast in our Liberties, July 7th, Phila- 
delphia, 1775.] 

^Sermons, i vol 50 

^Embassy to China, i vol i 00 

[Staunton, Sir George Leonard, Bart. : 
Authentic Account of an Embassy to 
China, London, 1797, 2 vols.. 4to.] 

Humphrey Clinker, i vol 25 

*Warren's Poems, i vol. [Seepage 192].. i 00 

■^Poems, I vol 50 

Swift's Works, i vol 50 

Sermons, i vol 25 

History of a Foundling (3d vol. wanting), 3 

vols I 50 

Adventures of Telemachus, 2 vols 2 00 

Nature Displayed, i vol i 00 

Solyman and Almenia, i vol 50 

Plays, I vol 50 

The High German Doctor, i vol 25 

Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester, i v, 25 

*Benezet's Discourse, i vol 25 

[Benezet, Antony.] 
Journal of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, 9 vols., folio 27 00 

Laws of the United States, 7 vols 28 00 

Revised Laws of Virginia, i vol 10 00 

Acts of Virginia Assembly, 5 vols i 00 

^Cruttwell's Concordance, i vol 5 00 

[Crutwell, Clement : Concordance of Par- 
allels from Bibles and Commentaries, 
London, 1790, 4to.] 



Appendix 203 



Dallas's Reports, i vol., 8vo $3 00 

Swift's System, 2 vols 3 00 

Journals of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives, 3 vols 6 00 

State Papers, i vol 2 00 

Burn's Justice, 4 vols 12 00 

Marten's Law of Nations, i vol i 50 

* Views of the British Customs, i vol i 00 

[Crouch, H.] 

Debates of Congress, 3 vols 4 50 

Laws of the United States, 3 vols 6 00 

Kirby's Reports, i vol 2 00 

Virginia Justice, i vol i 00 

Virginia Laws, i vol i 00 

Dogge on Criminal Law, 3 vols 4 50 

Laws of the United States, 2 vols 4 00 

*Debates of the State of Massachusetts on 

the Constitution, i vol 50 

*Sharp on the Law of Nature, i vol 25 

[Sharp, G. : Tract on the Law of Nature, 
London, 8vo.l 

*Sharp on the Law of Retribution, i vol. . . 25 
[Sharp, G. : The Law of Retribution ; Ex- 
amples of God's Vengeance on Slave- 
holders, etc., London, 1776, 8vo.] 

Sharp on Libels and Juries, i vol 25 

Acts of Congress, i vol 75 

Debates of the Convention of Virginia, 1 vol. 50 

The Landlord's Law, i vol., i2mo 25 

Attorney's Pocket-Book, 2 vols., 8vo i 00 

^President's Messages, i vol 2 00 

*Jay's Treaty, i vol 50 

[Jay, John : Treaty Between his Britannic 
Majesty and the United States, 1795.] 
Debates of the Convention of Massachu- 
setts, I vol 50 



204 Appendix 



Law Against Bankrupts, i vol $o 50 

*Debates in tlie Convention of Pennsyl- 
vania, I vol 50 

*Debates in the Convention of Virginia, i v. 50 

^Debates in the House of Representatives 
of the United States with Respect to their 

Power on Treaties, i vol 50 

Sundry Pamphlets containing Messages 

from the President to Congress, etc i 00 

Orations, i vol., 4to 50 

Gospel News, i vol., 8vo i 00 

*Mosaical Creation, i vol., 8vo 75 

[Berington, Simon, Dissertations on the 
Mosaic Creation, Deluge, etc., Lon- 
don, 1750, 8vo.J 
^Original and Present State of Man, i vol, 50 

- [Phipps, Joseph : Original and Present 
State of Man as Held by the Quakers.] 

Sermons, 2 vols i 50 

^Political Sermons, 3 vols 225 

*Miscellanies, i vol 75 

*Ray on the Wisdom of God in Creation, i v. i 00 

Backus's History, i vol 1 00 

*Orations, i vol., Bvo 75 

Sick Man Visited, i vol 50 

*Medical Tracts, 2 vols i 50 

[i vol. in Boston Athenaeum.] 

*State of Man, i vol 75 

*Masohic Sermons 50 

Churchill's Sermons, i vol 75 

*Miscellanies, i vol 

*Account of the Protestant Church, i vol. 75 

*Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, i 

vol I 00 

[Burnet, Gilbert : Exposition of the Thirty- 
nine Articles, London, 1705, folio.] 



Appendix 205 



Dodington's Diary, i vol $1 00 

Daveis's Cavalry, i vol i 00 

Simm's Military Course, i vol i 00 

Gentleman'-s Magazine, 3 vols 4 00 

^Library Catalogue, i vol i 50 

[Library Company of Philadelphia.] 
Transactions of the Royal Humane Soci- 
ety, I vol 3 00 

Zimmerman's Survey, i vol 75 

*History of Barbary, i vol 75 

[Walter, R.: Complete History, etc., Lon- 
don, 1750.J 
*Anson's Voyage Around the World, i vol. i 00 
[Anson, George, Lord : Voyage Around 
the World, 1740-44. Lond., 1794,410.] 

Horseman and Farrier, i vol i 00 

*Gordon's Geography, i vol i 00 

[Gordon, Pat. : Geography Anatomized ; 
or. The Geographical Grammar, with 
maps by Senex.] 

*Kentucky, i vol 75 

[Filson, J. : Discovery, Settlement, and 
Present State of Kentucky, 1784, 8vo.] 

*History of Virginia, i vol i 00 

[Beverly, Robert : History of Virginia, by 
a Native Inhabitant, London, 1705, 
8vo.] 

* American Revolution, i vol i 00 

[Boucher, J. : View of the Causes and 
Consequences of the American Revo- 
lution, London, 1797, 8vo.] 

*Cincinnati, i vol i 00 

[Society of the.] 

*Political Tracts, i vol 75 

Remarks on the Encroachments of the 

River Thames, i vol 50 



2o6 Appendix 



Sharp on Crown Law, i vol., 8vo $o 50 

*Common Sense, etc., I vol 75 

[Paine, Thomas : Address to the Inhab- 
itants of America, second edition, 

Philadelphia, 1776, 8vo.] 

Hardy's Tables, i vol 75 

Beauties of Sterne, i vol 75 

*Peregrine Pickle, 3 vols i 50 

[Smollett, T.: Adventures of, etc. (In his 

Miscellanies, vols. 2, 3.)] 

McFingal, i vol 50 

Memoirs of a Noted Buckhorse, 2 vols i 00 

Odyssey (Pope's Translation of Homer), 5 

vols 3 00 

Miscellanies, 3 vols . i 50 

Fitz Osborne's Letters, i vol 50 

Voltaire's Letters, i vol 50 

*Guardian, 2 vols i 00 

[The Guardian, in Harrison's British 

Classics. ] 

Beauties of Swift, i vol 50 

The Gleaner, 3 vols 3 00 

Miscellanies, 2 vols i 50 

Lee's Memoirs, i vol i 00 

*The Universalist, i vol i 00 

[Smith, W. P. : The Universalist, New 

York, 1788, 8vo.] 

*Chesterfield's Letters, 4 vols 2 00 

[Stanhope, Philip Dormer, Fourth Earl 

of Chesterfield : Letters to His Son, 

Boston, 1769, 2 vols., 8vo.] 

Louis XV. , 4 vols 3 00 

*Bentham's Panopticon, 3 vols 2 00 

[Bentham, Jeremy : Panopticon vs. New 

South Wales.] 



Appendix 207 



*Reason, etc., i vol %o 50 

[Reason and Faith ; or, The Necessity of 
Revelation, by a Son of Abraham, 
Philadelphia, 1791, i2mo.] 

*Tour Through Great Britain, 4 vols 3 00 

Female Fortune-hunter, 3 vols i 00 

The Supposed Daughter, 3 vols i 50 

Gil Bias, 4 vols 3 00 

*Columbian Grammar, i vol 50 

[Dearborn, Benjamin : Columbian Gram- 
mar, Boston, 1795, i6mo.] 

Frazier's Assistant, i vol 50 

Review of Cromwell's Life, i vol 75 

*Seneca's Morals, i vol 75 

^Travels of Cyrus, i vol 75 

[Ramsay, Andre Michel : Travels of Cy- 
rus, with a Discussion upon the The- 
ology and the Mythology of the Pagans, 
London, 1745, i6mo.] 

^Miscellanies, i vol 75 

Charles XIL. i vol 50 

Emma Corbett (the second volume want- 
ing) , 2 vols I GO 

Pope's Works, 6 vols., 1 2mo 2 oo 

Foresters, i vol 50 

*Adams's Defence, i vol 75 

[Adams, John : Defence of the Constitu- 
tions of Government of the United 
States, London, 1787-88, 3 vols., 8vo.] 

Butler's Hudibras, i vol i 00 

Spectator, 6 vols 3 00 

New Crusoe, i vol 75 

Philadelphia Gazette, i vol., folio 10 00 

Pennsylvania Packet, 2 vols 12 00 

Gazette of the United States, 10 vols 40 00 

Atlas to Guthrie's Geography, i vol 40 00 



2o8 Appendix 



Moll's Atlas, I vol $1000 

West India Atlas, i vol 20 00 

General Geographer, i vol 30 00 

Manoetivres, i vol., 8vo i 00 

■^'Atlas of North America, i vol., 8vo 10 00 

[American Pocket Atlas.] 

■^Military Instructions, i vol 50 

[Stevenson, Roger : Military Instructions 
for Officers Detached in the Field, 
Philadelphia, 1775, i2mo.] 
*Count Saxes Plan for New-modelling the 

French Army, i vol 50 

[Saxe, Hermann Maurice, Comte de : Plan 
for New-modelling the French Army, 
vol. 3, London, 1753, i2mo.] 

*Military Discipline, i vol., 4to 2 00 

[A New System of Military Discipline.] 

*Prussian Evolutions, i vol., 8vo i 50 

[Hanson, Thomas.] 
*Code of Military Standing Resolutions, 2 vs. 4 00 
[Grace, Henry.] 

*Field Engineer, i vol., 8vo i 50 

[Claviac's Field Engineer ; translated by 
Vallancey.] 

*Arrny List, i vol 75 

[List of the Generals and Field Officers, 
etc.] 

*Prussian Evolutions, i vol., 4to . 2 00 

[Hanson, Thomas : Prussian Evolutions 
in Actual Engagements, Philadelphia 
(17—), 4to.] 

*Leblond's Engineer, 2 vols. , 8vo 3 00 

Miiller on Fortification, i vol 2 00 

Essays on Field Artillery, by Anderson, i v. 75 

[Anderson, John, M.D. : Essays on Field 
Artillery, n. p. (1791), 8vo.J 



Appendix 209 



A System of Camp Discipline, i vol $2 00 

*Essays on the Art of War, i vol i 00 

[One volume, London, 1761.] 

Treatise on Military Discipline, i vol i 50 

List of Military Officers, British and Irish, 

in I ']']'], I vol 50 

Vallancey on Fortification, i vol i 50 

Miiller on Artillery, i vol i 50 

Miiller on Fortification, i vol 2 00 

*Militia, i vol., 8vo i 00 

[Pickering, T. J.] 

American Atlas, i vol., folio 4 00 

*Steuben's Regulations, i vol., 8vo 75 

[Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron : Reg- 
ulations for the Order and Discipline of 
the Troops of the United States, Bos- 
ton, 1794, i2mo.] 

Traite de Cavalerie, i vol., folio 6 00 

*Truxtun on Latitude and Longitude, i vol. i 50 
[Truxtun, Thomas : Remarks, etc., Rela- 
tive to Latitude and Longitude, Varia- 
tions of the Compass, etc., Philadelphia, 
1794, folio.] 

Ordinances of the King, i vol 2 00 

*Magnetic Atlas, i vol i 00 

[Churchman, John : The Magnetic Atlas, 
London, 1794, folio.] 

Roads Through England, i vol., 8vo i 00 

Carey's War Atlas, i vol., folio 75 

Caller's Survey of Roads, i vol., 8vo 50 

Military Institutions for Officers, i vol 50 

Norfolk Exercise, i vol 25 

Advice of the Officers of the British Army, i v. 25 

^Webb's Treatise on the Appointments of 

the Army, i vol 25 

[Webb, Lieutenant Thomas : Military 
14 



2IO Appendix 



Treatise on the Appointments of the 
Army, Philadelphia, 1759, i2mo.] 
Acts of the Parliament Respecting Militia, 

I vol ^25 

*The Partisan, i vol 50 

[Jeney, de : The Partisan ; or, The Art of 
Making War in Detachment, London, 
1760, 8vo.j 
*Anderson on Artillery (in French), i vol.. 25 

[Anderson, John, M.D,] 
List of Officers Under Sir William Howe in 

America, i vol 25 

The Military Guide, i vol 50 

The Duties of Soldiers in General, 3 vols. . . i 50 

*Young's Tour, 2 vols 3 00 

[Young, Arthur : A Tour in Ireland, 
1776-79, Dublin, 1780, 2 vols., Svo.] 
Young on Agriculture, 17 vols., full bound, 

the others in boards, 4 vols 50 00 

[Boston Athenaeum has Annals of Agri- 
culture, by A. Young, in 31 vols.] 

*Anderson on Agriculture 8 00 

[Anderson, James, LL.D., i vol. full 
bound, the others in boards, 4 vols.] 
*Lisle's Observations on Husbandry, 2 vols. 3 00 

*Museum Rusticum, 6 vols , 10 00 

[Museum Rusticum et Commercial ; pa- 
pers on Agriculture, etc.] 

♦Marshall's Rural Ornament, 2 vols 4 00 

[Marshall, Wm. : Planting and Rural Or- 
nament, London, 1796, 2 vols., 8vo.] 

Barlow's Husbandry, 2 vols 3 00 

♦Kennedy on Gardening, 2 vols 2 00 

[Kennedy, John : Treatise upon Planting, 
Gardening, etc., London, 1777, 2 vols,, 
Svo. I 



Appendix 2 1 1 



*Hale on Husbandry, 4 vols $6 00 

[Hale, Thos. : A Compleat Body of Hus- 
bandry, London, 1758-59, 4 vols., 8vo. J 

Sentimental Magazine, 5 vols 10 00 

Price on the Picturesque, 2 vols 4 00 

* Agriculture, 2 vols 2 00 

*Miller's Gardener's Calendar, i vol 2 00 

[Miller, Philip : The Gardener's Kalendar, 
London, 1762, 8vo.] 

*Rural Economy, i vol., 8vo i 00 

[Young, Arthur : Rural Economy ; Essays 
on the Practical Parts of Husbandry, 
1792, 8vo.] 

Agricultural Inquiries, i vol i 00 

Maxwell's Practical Husbandry, i vol 2 00 

*Boswell on Meadows, i vol i 00 

[Boswell, George : Treatise on Watering 
Meadows, 3d edition, Lond., 1792, 8vo.] 

*Gentleman Farmer, i vol i 50 

[Howe, H.J 

♦Practical Farmer, i vol i 50 

[Spurrier, John : The Practical Farmer, 
Wilmington, 1793, 8vo.] 

*Millwright and Miller's Guide, i vol 2 00 

[Evans, Oliver : The Young Millwright 
and Miller's Guide, Philadelphia, 1795, 
8vo.J 

Bordley on Husbandry, i vol 225 

^Sketches and Inquiries, i vol 2 00 

[Peters, R., and others.] 

♦Farmer's Complete Guide, i vol i 00 

[Farmer's Complete Guide, London, 1760, 
8vo.] 
The Solitary or Carthusian Gardener, i vol. i 00 
Homer's Iliad by Pope (first two vols, want- 
ing), 4 vols ; . . . . 2 00 



2 1 2 Appendix 



Don Quixote, 4 vols $3 oo' 

Federalist, 2 vols 3 00 

The World Displayed (13th vol. v^anting). 

19 vols., i2mo 9 50 

*Search's Essays, 2 vols., 8vo 2 00 

[Brutus, pseud., and Search, Humphrey, 
pseicd. Essays, historical, political, and 
moral ; a proper supplement to Barata- 
riana, Dublin [177-]. 2 vols. i2mo.] 

Freneau's Poems, i vol i ... "* 

*Catde Doctor, i vol 75 

[Swaine, John : Every Farmer his own 
Cattle Doctor, 3d edition, London, 
1786, i2mo.] 

Stephen's Directory, i vol 50 

*New System of Agriculture, i vol 50 

[Lawrence, John.] 

Columbus's Discovery, i vol 25 

Moore's Travels, 5 vols 4 00 

^Agricultural Society of New York, i vol., 

4to 2 00 

[Society for the Promotion of Agricult- 
ure.] 
^Transactions of the Agricultural Society of 

New York, i vol i 00 

*Annals of Agriculture, i vol 2 00 

*Dundonald's Connection Between Agricult- 
ure and Chemistry, i vol i 00 

[Cochrane, A., Earl of Dundonald : Trea- 
tise on Agriculture and Chemistry, Lon- 
don, 1795.] . 

*Labors in Husbandry, i vol i.f 

*Account of Different Kinds of Sheep, i 

vol., 8vo 

[Pallas, P. S. : Account of Sheep in Rus- 
sia and Tartary, etc.] 



Appendix 213 



*The Hothouse Gardener, i vol $1 50 

[Abercrombie, John : Hothouse Garden- 
er, on Pineapple, etc., London, 1789, 
8vo.] 
Historical Memoirs of Frederick H., 3 vols. i cx5 

^■■^reatise of Peat Moss, i vol 50 

Anderson, James, LL.D. : Practical 
Treatise on Peat Moss as Fuel, Edin- 
burgh, 1794, Bvo.] 
^icatise on Bogs and Swampy Grounds, 1 

vol 75 

[Anderson, James, LL.D. : Practical 
Treatise on Draining Bogs and 
Swampy Grounds, London, 1797, Bvo.] 
Complete Farmer, i vol., folio 6 00 



PAMPHLETS 

*Reports of the National Agricultural So- 
ciety, 100 vols., 4to 25 00 

*Massachusetts Magazine, 41 vols., 8vo. . . . 6 00 
[Boston Athenaeum has vol. 3d bound.] 

New York Magazine, 38 vols 6 00 

London Magazine, 18 vols 3 00 

Political Magazine, 8 vols i 00 

Universal Asylum, 9 vols i 50 

Universal Magazine, 1 1 vols i 50 

Country Magazine, 1 5 vols 2 00 

'jithly and Critical Reviews, 11 vols 2 00 

I -tleman's Magazine, 8 vols i 00 

ngressional Register, 9 vols i 00 

'boston Athenaeum has 3 vols., 1789-90.] 

^,llaneous Magazine, 27 vols 3 00 

Paine's Rights of Man, 43 vols 15 00 

illaneous Magazine, 27 vols 4 00 






214 Appendix 



BOOKS 

*Hazard's Collection of State Papers, 2 

vols., 4to $5 00 

[Hazard, Ebenezer : Historical Collec- 
tion of State Papers, etc.] 
Morse's American Gazetteer, i vol., 8vo. . . 2 o4 
[Morse, J. : The American Gazette, Bos- 
ton, 1797, 8vo.] 
Annals of Agriculture (20 and 21), 2 vols.. . 3 00 

*0n the American Revolution, i vol i 50 

[Price, Richard, and others.] 
^Fifteen Pamphlets, Annals of Agriculture. 2 50 

*Judge Peters on Plaster of Paris, i vol i 50 

[Boston Athenseum has this in a volume 
with other pamphlets.] 

Belknap's Biography, i vol i 50 

*American Remembrancer, i vol 50 

[Hart, Rev. Oliver. : America's Remem- 
brancer.] 

Federalist, 2 vols i 50 

A Pamphlet, The Debate of Parliament on 

the Articles of Peace, i vol 25 

History of the American War in 17 Pam- 
phlets I 50 

Miscellaneous Pamphlets, 26 Nos 2 00 

Washington, a Poem 2 00 

*Alfieri, Bruto Primo, Italian Tragedy i 00 

[Alfieri, Vittorio, Comte. : Bruto Primo.] 
■^Fragment of Politics and Literature, by 

Mandrillon (in French), i vol., 8vo 75 

[Mandrillon, Joseph : Fragments of Poli- 
tics and Literature After a Journey to 
Berlin, 1784.] 



Appendix 2 1 5 



^Revolution of France and Geneva (in 

French), 2 vols. , 8vo $2 00 

[D'lvernois, Francois, London, 1795, ^vo.] 

^History of the Administration of the Fi- 
nances of the French Republic 50 

[D'lvernois, Frangois (intrench, 1746), 
4 vols.] 

*History of the French Administration, i 

vol 75 

The Social Compact (in French), i vol 25 

Chastellux's Travels in North America (in 

French), 2 vols., 8vo i 50 

*One Pamphlet of the French Revolution at 

Geneva 25 

[D'lvernois, Francois.] 

*America Delivered, a Poem (in French), 2 

vols., 8vo I 50 

*Sinclair's Statistics (in French), i vol i 00 

[Sinclair, Sir John, London, 1795.] 

The Works of Monsieur Chamousset (in 

French), 2 vols 4 00 

Letters of American Farmer (in French), 3 

vols 4 50 

*Germanicus (in French), i vol 25 

[Winter, L. W.] 

* Triumph of the New World (in French), 2 

vols I 50 

[Brun, J. A.J 

* United States of America (in German), I V. i 50 

[Ebeling.] 
*Chastellux's Discourse on the Advantage 

of the Discovery of America, i vol i 00 

[Chastellux, F. J. : Discourse on the Ad- 
vantages to Europe of the Discovery of 
America, London, 1787, 8vo.] 
*A German Book, i vol 25 



2i6 Appendix 



*The French Mercury (in French), 4 vols. . $3 00 

[Mercure de France.] 

*Essays on Weights, Measures, etc., 2 vols. 75 
[One vol. on Weights and Measures in 
French.] 

History of England, 2 vols 25 

^Political Journal, i vol 50 

[Politisches Journal, 1790.] 

Letters in French and English, i vol 25 

History of the Holy Scriptures, i vol 25 

History of Gil Bias, 2 vols i 00 

Telemachus, 2 vols i 00 

Poems of M. Grecourt, 2 vols 25 

*Court Register, 6 vols., i2mo i 50 

[Boston Athenaeum has i vol., 1783.] 

Six Pamphlets, Political Journal (in German). 50 

Description of a Monument, i vol 50 

*Beacon Hill, i vol 25 

*Letters in the English and German Lan- 
guages, I vol 25 

(Croft, Herbert, Hamburg, 1 797-1 

*A Family Housekeeper, i vol 25 

Pamphlets of Different Descriptions 1 5 00 



MAPS, CHARTS. ETC. 

Chart of Navigation from the Gulf of Honda 
to Philadelphia, by Hamilton Moore. 
Chart of Navigation from the Gulf of 

Honda to Bay of Funda, do 40 00 

Griffith's Map of Pennsylvania and Sketch 

of Delaware 8 00 

Howell's Large Map of Pennsylvania 10 00 

Henry's Map of Virginia 8 00 

Bradley's Map of the United States 5 00 



Appendix 



Holland's Map of New Hampshire $3 oo 

Ellicott's Map of the West End of Lake 

Ontario 4 oo 

Hutchins's Map of the Western Part of Vir- 
ginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North 

Carolina 3 00 

Adlum and Williams's Map of Pennsylvania 2 00 

Map of Kennebec River, etc i 00 

Andrews's Military Map of the Seat of War 

in the Netherlands i 00 

Howell's Small Map of Pennsylvania 2 00 

Great Canal Between Forth and Clyde 2 00 

Plan of the Line Between North Carolina 

and Virginia 2 00 

M'Murray's Map of United States 3 00 

Military Plans of the American Revolution . 8 00 
Evans's Map of Pennsylvania, New York, 

New Jersey, and Delaware i 00 

Plan of the Mississippi, from the River Iber- 
ville to the River Yazoo 2 00 

Map of India 5 00 

Chart of France i 00 

Map of the World 50 

Map of the State of Connecticut 2 00 

Spanish Maps 50 

Table of Commerce and Population of 

France 50 

Battle of the Nile, etc i 00 

Routes and Order of Battle of Generals St. 

Clair and Harmer i 00 

Truxtun on the Rigging of a Frigate i 00 

View of the Encampment of West Point ... 50 

Emblematic Prints 4 00 

Plan of the Government House of New York 50 
Chase and Action Between the Constella- 
tion and Insurgent (2 prints) 4 00 



2 1 8 Appendix 



General Wilkinson's Map of Part of the 

Western Territory $i oo 

Plan of Mount Vernon, by John Vaughan.. i oo 

Specimen of Penmanship 50 

Five Plans of the Federal City and District. 5 00 

One Large Draught 3 00 

Plan of the City of New York Panopticon. . 80 

Hoop's Map of the State of New York i 00 

Howell's Pocket Map of the State of Penn- 
sylvania 2 00 

A French Map of the Carolinas 2 00 

Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia 2 00 

Howell's Small Map of Pennsylvania 2 00 

A Map of New England 2 00 

Nine Maps of Different Parts of Virginia 
and Carolina, and also a Number of 

Loose Maps 52 00 

Carleton's Map (2 sets) of the Coasts of 

North America 8 00 

Treatise on Cavalry, with Large Cuts 50 00 

Walker's View in Scotland 3 00 

A Large Portfolio, with Sundry Engrav- 
ings 40 00 

Alexander's Victories (26 prints) 100 00 

BOOKS OMITTED 

Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 4 vols., 8vo 20 00 

*Smollett's History of England, i vol 1 1 00 

[Boston Athenaeum has 1 1 vols.] 

^Handmaid to the Arts 2 00 

[2d edition, London, 1764, 2 vols.,8vo.] 

^Bancroft on Permanent Colors, i vol i 00 

[Bancroft, Edward, M.D. : Experimental 
Researches Concerning the Philoso- 
phy of Permanent Colors.] 



Appendix 2 1 9 



We are informed that one of the two copies 
of " Don (2uixote," mentioned in the appraiser's 
list, was sold to G. M. Williams, Esq., of New 
York, by Mr. William Evarts Benjamin, who sold 
also some of the volumes of Goldsmith's " Ani- 
mated Nature" to Oscar Straus, Esq., of the same 
city, and one of the volumes of that set to Mrs. 
Wells, of New York, and still another to R. B. 
Coutant, Esq., of Tarrytown, N. Y. A more ex- 
tended list, showing the present ownership of 
books, once Washington's, if not completed in time 
for this appendix will be available for future pub- 
lication. 

The founder of the Avery Memorial Architect- 
ural Library, New York, has, it is said, that work 
once owned by Washington entitled " The Con- 
trast," being the first American comedy. 

At the library of the State of New York in 
Albany is the work entitled " Uniform of the 
Forces of Great Britain in 1742, executed by John 
Pine.' 

Mr. William H. Havemeyer, of New York, kindly 
furnishes titles of some of the works once Wash- 
ington's, now in his collection (some volumes being 
" packed away ") as follows : 

8 Vols. Political State of Europe ; 4 Vols. Win- 
chester's Lectures ; i Vol. Laws of Congress ; i 
Vol. Priestley's Evidences ; i Vol. Camp Discipline ; 
I Vol. Epistles for the Ladies ; i Vol. Miles's Tracts. 

High authority in New York denies, after care- 
ful examination, the published gossip, that in a well- 
known collection there is somewhat of importance 
incriminating Washington, either in MSS. or print. 
The Historical Society has among interesting 
Washingtoniana the declaration from his Virginia 
parish, signed by Washington among others as 



220 Appendix 



follows: "I, A. B.,do declare that I will be con- 
formable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the 
Church of England as by law established. — Geo. 
Washington." 

At the Educational Institution in Virginia which 
bears his name may be found the following, in the 
letter dated Mount Vernon, 17th June, 1798 : " To 
promote literature in this rising Empire, and to en- 
courage the Arts has ever been amongst the most 
cherished wishes of my heart." 

The Rev. Dr. Chas. F. Hoffman has lately pur- 
chased " Washington's Prayers," the MSS. con- 
taining morning and evening prayers for various 
days of the week. He has under consideration, for 
the benefit of young men and others, a division of 
this very valuable manuscript, forming a sermon 
every page, for deposit in the fire-proof libraries of 
St. Stephen's College, Hobart College, Trinity Col- 
lege, and the University of the South, each institu- 
tion to have also a complete free circulation of the 
whole work. 



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